A brinjal engineered through biotechnology to kill plant-eating insects, the focus of a sharp and bitter debate about the safety of genetically modified plants, has leapt closer to dinner tables in India. The government’s apex safety review panel for genetically engineered products today approved the release of the brinjal into the environment, turning it into India’s first GM food crop ready for commercial cultivation. The final clearance now rests with...

Greenpeace, in collaboration with several civil society organisations, has launched a peoples’ campaign against ‘genetically contaminated food.’ The idea is to get thousands of citizens to write and send faxes to the Union Environment Minister Jairam Raesh before a high-powered government committee called the GEAC approves commercial cultivation in India of Bt brinjal.   The activists believe that urgent action is required before the process of contaminating our food supply...

Civil society groups and non-governmental organisations have strongly voiced their disapproval of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) recommending commercial cultivation of Bt Brinjal in India. This is happening even as there are many unresolved issues surrounding the environmental release of the transgenic vegetable and genuine concerns over its safety for human consumption. There is also the threat of all future seeds and therefore Indian agriculture coming under the control...

Civil society groups have cautioned the government against introducing genetically modified crops in the food chain and questioned the credentials of a panel of experts to look into the biosafety of Bt Brinjal, which will come up before the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) on Wednesday. The committee was set up by the GEAC to look into the findings of independent experts who raised concerns at the safety of Bt...