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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | My decision on Bt brinjal was not influenced by NGOs: Jairam by Amitabh Sinha

My decision on Bt brinjal was not influenced by NGOs: Jairam by Amitabh Sinha

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published Published on Feb 26, 2012   modified Modified on Feb 26, 2012

Days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke of the role of foreign-funded NGOs in instigating protests against genetic engineering in agriculture, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has asserted that his controversial decision to put the release of genetically-modified brinjal on indefinite hold in 2010 was not influenced by any NGO.
 
As the then environment minister, Jairam had blocked the commercial release of Bt brinjal, citing a lack of scientific consensus and absence of any “over-riding urgency”. In taking that decision, he had overruled the clearance granted to it by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, the top scientific body on GM crops in the country. His decision had been severely criticised by several of his cabinet colleagues.

“I was directly involved in putting Bt brinjal on hold and I can say with full confidence and responsibility that my decision was not influenced by the campaign of any NGO, either from India or abroad,” Jairam said today.

In an interview to Science magazine this week, the Prime Minister said: “Biotechnology has enormous potential, and in due course of time we must make use of genetic engineering technologies to increase the productivity of our agriculture. But there are controversies. There are NGOs, often funded from the United States and the Scandinavian countries, which are not fully appreciative of the development challenges that our country faces.”

The PM did not directly refer to the decision on Bt brinjal, even though the question was specific to that decision.

Jairam today refrained from making a comment on the PM’s remarks. But he said that his decision was in sync with the PM’s speech at the Indian Science Congress that year, in which he had stressed on the need to have adequate safeguards in the use of genetic engineering in food crops.

The indefinite moratorium on Bt brinjal came after nearly seven months of often-noisy public hearings in several cities in which NGOs of all hues participated. Some senior agriculture scientists later complained that pro-Bt brinjal voices were often shouted down, and in some instances not allowed to be present or heard at these meetings.

Jairam said today that the reasons for his decision were spelt out in his February 9, 2010 speaking order.

“The decision was arrived at after carefully listening to everyone, including the NGOs. It did not represent the viewpoint of any one side. All the facts were placed in the public domain. The fact is that most of our states were not in favour of going ahead with Bt brinjal. I wrote to many chief ministers asking their opinion and all of them had serious reservations,” he said.

The scientific community too was split, he said. “Contrary to what many believe, there is no scientific consensus on the use of genetic engineering in a food crop. We have had success with Bt cotton but brinjal is different. It is edible, and that is a substantial distinction. We need to be more careful with food crops. All I said is that let’s have some more tests. Let’s wait till we are more sure. There cannot be any ideological positions in matters relating to science.”

Jairam was moved from the environment ministry to Rural Development last year. The moratorium on Bt brinjal continues.

The Indian Express, 26 February, 2012, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/my-decision-on-bt-brinjal-was-not-influenced-by-ngos-jairam/916821/


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