<h1 class="ql-align-center">GM Rice</h1><h2> </h2><h2>Context:</h2> <ul><li>Recently, 500 tonnes of genetically modified rice were discovered by European Commission Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) in a consignment that India exported to the EU countries.</li></ul> <h2>About:</h2> <ul><li>GM foods are derived from plants whose genes are artificially modified, usually by inserting genetic material from another organism, in order to give it a new property, such as increased yield, tolerance to a herbicide, resistance to disease or drought, or to improve its nutritional value.</li></ul> <ul><li>Probably the best-known variety of GM rice is golden rice, which involves the insertion of genes from a plant, both daffodils and maize have been used and a soil bacterium to create a grain that is enriched with Vitamin A.</li></ul> <ul><li>India has approved the commercial cultivation of only one GM crop, Bt cotton. </li></ul> <ul><li>No GM food crop has ever been approved for commercial cultivation.</li></ul> <ul><li>However, confined field trials have been allowed for at least 20 GM crops which include varieties of GM rice which would have improved resistance to insects and diseases, as well as hybrid seed production and nutritional enhancements such as golden rice.</li></ul> <ul><li>Trials have been carried out by public universities and research institutions such as the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, as well as private firms such as Bayer Bioscience and Mahyco.</li></ul>