On Thursday, February 9th, which marked National Safe Food Day, representatives of various organizations and individuals across India organized events to protest against the approval of GM Mustard.
This day was established after the indefinite moratorium placed on Bt Brinjal, India’s first GM food crop, by the central government on February 9th, 2010.
The representatives are strongly opposing the environmental release and commercial cultivation of GM Mustard, which was approved by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) in October 2022. The matter is now pending in the Supreme Court. Civil society groups are claiming that the GM technique is not safe and does not result in any difference in yield.
A campaign named Sarson Satyagraha has also been launched, asking people to protect their right to safe food. On February 9th, various actions were taken, including round table conferences, cycle rallies, and consumer outreach events to raise awareness about the dangers of GM Mustard. In some places, signature campaigns were also held and social media was used to spread the message using the hashtag #NoGMMustardPoison.
Organic mustard products were gifted to ministers of mustard-growing or mustard-consuming states to emphasize that this is their last chance to consume safe and natural mustard if they don’t act now. The goal of these events is to educate consumers and raise awareness about the dangers of GM Mustard
