Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is India's central regulatory committee for assessing specified activities involving genetically engineered organisms from the environmental safety perspective. Its core mandate covers the large-scale use of hazardous microorganisms and genetically engineered organisms in research and industrial production, and the release of genetically engineered organisms and products into the environment, including experimental field trials.

Legal basis and institutional location

GEAC functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Its statutory basis lies in the 1989 Rules governing the manufacture, use, import, export and storage of hazardous microorganisms, genetically engineered organisms or cells, notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

• The Rules establish a biosafety regulatory framework covering research, production, use and environmental release of the organisms and materials within their scope.
• GEAC is one component of this framework, which distributes responsibilities among central, institutional, state and district bodies.

Activities subject to GEAC appraisal

GEAC's mandate is not confined to genetically modified crops. It also covers specified activities involving hazardous microorganisms and genetically engineered organisms in research and industry.

• It appraises activities involving large-scale use of hazardous microorganisms and recombinant organisms in research and industrial production from the environmental angle.
• It appraises proposals for environmental release of genetically engineered organisms and products, including experimental field trials.
• It grants approvals within its statutory remit and may attach conditions and restrictions to protect human health and the environment.
• Its appraisal considers biosafety evidence and the risks associated with the proposed organism, activity and conditions of use.

How GEAC fits into the biosafety system

The framework distinguishes oversight of contained research from appraisal of large-scale use and environmental release. Consequently, GEAC approval should not be treated as the sole regulatory requirement for every biotechnology activity.

• The Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation, under the Department of Biotechnology, monitors safety-related aspects of ongoing research involving genetically engineered organisms and hazardous microorganisms.
• Institutional Biosafety Committees provide institution-level oversight of relevant research activities.
• State Biotechnology Coordination Committees and District Level Committees perform monitoring and inspection functions under the Rules.
• An approval applies to the specified activity and its conditions; it is not an unrestricted permission for every subsequent use of the organism.