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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | GM foods are fine

GM foods are fine

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published Published on Mar 2, 2010   modified Modified on Mar 2, 2010

It is surprising to see senior ministers of the government getting drawn into a bout of shadow-boxing over genetically-modified (GM) foods. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s decision to put a moratorium on Bt brinjal has got the goat of not just some GM businesses, but of some of his ministerial colleagues as well. Farm minister Sharad Pawar leads the charge. Science and technology minister Prithviraj Chavan and former S&T minister and present minister for human resources development Kapil Sibal have joined the fray, in the name of science. This is rather strange. Neither science nor survival of Indian farming has been put at risk by the decision to put Bt brinjal on hold. All that has been called into question is the integrity of the approval process for GM foods.

True, the apex body for approval of GM crops, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, had given its nod for commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal. But this was not a unanimous decision. One member, at least, with serious scientific credentials, had raised strong objections. The principal objection was the absence of independent verification of the claims advanced by the biotech companies that had developed Bt brinjal. This is, indeed, most strange. India must not entertain superstitious objections to genetic engineering in food crops. However, there can be no blind faith in the self-seeking claims of commercial organisations either. India must develop the capability to carry out rigorous and independent testing of all GM crops, for all foreseeable negative fallouts. And here, independent must mean independent, rather difficult in an area where people with the requisite expertise also tend to have research links with the GM industry. And the physical infrastructure for independent testing must be built up, in universities and dedicated labs. Till this capability is built up, Indian farmers can continue to grow the humble brinjal, aubergine or eggplant the way they always have.

In fact, to allow a grafted bacterial gene into the food chain in the face of stiff opposition by several state governments, forget activists, the Centre would need hard, supportive scientific evidence. Let’s get that first.


The Economic Times, 3 March, 2010, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/editorial/GM-foods-are-fine/articleshow/5635420.cms
 

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