Government panel approves Bt brinjal in India

New Delhi: The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), country's bio-technology regulator, has approved the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) Bt brinjal. If approved by the government, it will become the first GM food crop in India.

Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh confirmed that the GEAC gave its approval. He, however, said the government was yet to take a decision on the committee's recommendations.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Ramesh said the recommendations and the review committee report were submitted but these would be studied in depth before a final decision was taken by the Ministry.

The GEAC said an expert committee, set up to assess the impact, suggested the commercial release of Bt brinjal.

"There are arguments for and against the introduction of the Bt brinjal and it will take lot of time to study them. But I have been told that the committee has recommended Bt brinjal’s introduction for commercial cultivation."

Activists of 'I Am Not A Lab Rat' campaign shout slogans against Bt brinjal in Chandigarh earlier this year/ Photo credit: Akhilesh Kumar/ The Hindu

There have been concerns over lack of bio-safety data of such crops having environmental implications and strong opposition from civil society groups and non-governmental organisations.

Ramesh said the final decision would not be taken under the influence of any company or any NGO. It was wrong to say that the final approval had been given.

Four varieties

There are four varieties of brinjals on the table for approval with the important one being cry 1Ac.

The research is also part of a USAID programme called Agri-Biotechnology Support Programme under a private-public partnership where three institutions – the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (Varanasi), the University of Agricultural Sciences (Dharwad) and the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (Coimbatore) are working with Monsanto and Mahyco.

Bt Brinjal has been under trial for the past nine years and was first sent to the GEAC for approval in 2004.

It was cleared by a panel led by Deepak Pental but a review committee was constituted in 2007 when civil society groups and NGOs raised doubts over health safety and environmental concerns.

The outcome of this committee was discussed on Wednesday and the GEAC cleared the commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal.

Activists express shock over approval

Civil society groups and nongovernmental 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 of global multinational companies and the charging of exorbitant prices from Indian farmers, a statement issued by the All-India Kisan Sabha said.

The monopoly of MNCs like Monsanto over the seeds is another major concern, as seeds are no longer in the public domain since they are now the "intellectual property" of these multinationals, the statement said.

The Kisan Sabha said there should be no hasty introduction of Bt Brinjal without addressing these concerns, and has demanded transparency from the GEAC and making public the nature of trials carried out and the bio-safety of the products.

Greenpeace, the global environmental activist group, has said it was shocking that the GEAC had "mindlessly" gone ahead and approved Bt Brinjal even when informed scientists and citizens of the country raised serious concerns on the nature of the safety studies.