Saturday, September 23 2006 14:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today restrained Centre from granting any fresh approval for field trials of Genetically Modified (GM) products in the country until further orders.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal also directed the Government to induct scientists and experts into the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), a statutory body for regulating the field trials to examine the issue in depth.

The Apex Court's stay order would, however, not apply to field trials of GM products which are already underway such as those of BT Brinjal and BT Cotton.

The Bench passed the orders while dealing with a PIL filed by one Aruna Rodrigues which complained that the GM products being introduced by some of the MNCs posed serious threat to ecology, crops and human lives.

Citing the spate of suicides of farmers in Maharashtra's Vidharbha region and other places in the country as an offshoot of the extensive use of GM seeds, the petition had sought a complete ban on their usage.

It was alleged that the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), granted permission for the products in a reckless manner without considering the debilitating effect it would have on the crops and human lives.

The petitioner said the move to allow large-scale field trials of BT brinjal by biotech company Mahyco, an Indian collaborative and partner company of Monsanto, if not checked would lead to untold hardships to the farmers and large-scale destruction of crops.

The Bench would take up the matter for further hearing on October 13.