10 state governments say no to Bt brinjal

Friday, February 05, 2010 08:00 IST
Food & Beverage News, Mumbai

Ten state governments have decided to wait for the end of controversy over whether genetically modified (GM) brinjal, or Bt brinjal, should be approved or not. They have decided not to allow it in their states anyway. Their representatives joined hands today at a conference called in Kerala by the state government and called their united stand the second war of independence. They were from political parties of different hues but united by the common cause of opposing Bt brinjal, the technology for which is owned by US company Monsanto.

The conference was called by the agriculture department and biodiversity board of the state government at Thiruvananthapuram. The representatives from 10 states ranging from Mizoram in the far east to Kerala's next door neighbour Tamil Nadu, and Naxal-ravaged Cchhattisgarh, besides Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, declared they would not rest until Bt brinjal and all GM food stuff "Quit India."

"Our motive was to send a strong message of opposition to Bt brinjal to the Centre," said V S Vijayan, chairperson of the Biodiversity Board of Kerala. The states made a joint declaration resolving against allowing Bt brinjal in their tetrritory. The agricultural ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Punjab recounted the losses incurred by their farmers who o[pted for Bt cotton and vowed not to allow Bt brinjal in their states

About imported products Vijayan said, "All we can do is to either insist on labelling of all imported food or like Mahatma Gandhi, not to buy imported food."

Pushpa Bhargava, member of the Union government's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee who differed with the majority, said the country did not have the technology to detect the Bt DNA.

Ramesh says PM will take the decision
Environment minister Jairam Ramesh, who is seeking public opinion on granting permission to cultivate Bt brinjal, sent a letter to Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar saying that the issue of human safety would not be decided in a rush and the matter would be eventually be taken to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. In a more direct attack on his ministerial colleagues, Ramesh said: "Bt brinjal is not just a farmer issue. We cannot ignore larger consumer groups."

He said he was acting on a very "limited mandate" of looking at the approval given to Bt brinjal. "I am not deciding on the future of genetically modified technology in agriculture."

Asked if differences had emerged in the UPA government on the issue, Ramesh said, "Differences are inevitable in a democracy."

Asked if he was dealing with a scientific issue in an emotional manner, he said: "This is not a scientific issue. There are larger social and political issues involved here." He said the issue involved around the entire food chain and needed to be looked at carefully.