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Parliamentary panel seeks probe into Bt
Brinjal
Thursday August 09, 2012 08:32:26 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi: A
parliamentary panel Thursday recommended a probe into the issue of
Bt Brinjal, saying that adequate tests had not been carried out
and the approval committee was under "tremendous pressure" from
the "industry and a minister" to approve it.
Basudeb Acharia, who heads the parliamentary standing committee on
agriculture, said: "The issue needs to be probed as the
co-chairman of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)
Arjula Reddy was under tremendous pressure as he was getting calls
from the industry, GEAC and a minister to approve Bt Brinjal."
He said the probe should cover the period right from the beginning
to the imposing of a moratorium on Bt Brinjal's commercialisation
by the government in February 2010.
"We are convinced that these developments are not merely slippages
due to oversight or human error but indicative of collusion of a
worst kind," Acharia told reporters.
A moratorium was imposed on Bt Brinjal by then environment
minister Jairam Ramesh in February 2010 following protests by NGOs
and environmentalists. Bt Brinjal was being pushed in India by the
US multinational Monsanto.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had criticised the move by
Ramesh, saying in the long run Bt Brinjal will only prove to be an
advantage for India.
Without naming the minister concerned, Acharia said the
parliamentary committee has been highly disconcerted to know about
the confession of the co-chairman of the GEAC.
According to him, genetically modified crops should not be pursued
in India as most of the farmers are small and marginal ones and
their interest has to be protected.
Acharia also suggested that an agency, other than GEAC, should
examine research reports on Bt Brinjal.
The parliamentary panel chief sought to counter the pro-GM crop
lobbies in the country by saying that the targets to meet the
concerns over food security could be easily met without the GM
technology and organic farming should be pursued to achieve these
goals.
He also said that the issue of GM crops should be debated in
parliament as there was a link between Bt Cotton and farmers'
suicides.
"Lakhs of tonnes of oil extracted from Bt Cotton seeds has entered
the food chain in the past decade... we have asked the consumer
affairs ministry for its views," said Acharia.
The panel also highlighted the need to label GM products.
International NGO Greenpeace welcomed the report and said it has
come at a time when the union government is trying hard to
introduce a new regulatory system for GM crops "by the name of
Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) bill".
"The report exposes the serious gaps in our country's GM
regulatory system and the lopsided GM technology promotion
policies of the government," said Neha Saigal, sustainable
agriculture campaigner, Greenpeace India.
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