From Bt Cotton to CRISPR — how genetic technology is reshaping agriculture and medicine, and why it's contested.
Bt Cotton, approved in 2002, remains the only GM crop commercially cultivated in India, engineered with a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis to resist bollworm pests. GM Mustard (DMH-11) received regulatory approval from the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) in 2022 for environmental release, but its commercial cultivation remains legally contested in the Supreme Court.
GM crops in India are regulated under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 Rules, with the GEAC (under the Ministry of Environment) as the apex approval body. Critics raise concerns about biosafety, seed sovereignty, and impact on biodiversity; supporters point to yield gains and reduced pesticide use.
CRISPR-Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing tool that allows precise, targeted edits to DNA — unlike older GM techniques that insert foreign genes, CRISPR can directly edit existing genes. Its developers, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. India developed its own indigenous CRISPR-based COVID-19 test kit and is exploring gene-edited crop varieties, which face a separate, evolving regulatory conversation from traditional GM crops.
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