Govt to consider ban through legal means

Express News Service
First Published : 02 Feb 2010 01:26:00 AM IST

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Government will consider the possibility of banning genetically modified crops in the state through legal measures.

Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran told a news conference here on Monday that the Government had written to the Union Environment Minister to conduct a sitting in Kerala before granting approval to Bt Brinjal. However, no reply had been received so far, he said.

WORKSHOP: A high-level workshop to discuss the merits and demerits of introducing GM crops, will be held at the Government Guest house here on Tuesday and Wednesday. The workshop is being jointly organised by the Kerala State Agriculture Department and Biodiversity Board.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will inaugurate the workshop at 3 pm on Tuesday. Mullakkara Ratnakaran will preside over the function.

Dr Devinder Sharma, chairman, Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security, New Delhi, will deliver the keynote address on GM crops in the context of the current agricultural crisis.

Dr Vandana Shiva, Director, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, New Delhi, will deliver the special address. Ministers C. Divakaran and P.K. Sreemathi, poet and environmentalist Sugathakumari, Environment Secretary C.K.

Viswanathan and Kerala Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor K.R.

Viswambharan will offer felicitations.

On Wednesday, Dr Pushpa M.Bhargava, founder director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, and Supreme Court’s nominee in the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, will speak on biosafety regulations in India in the context of the controversy over Bt Brinjal.

Dr G.V. Ramanjaneulu, Director, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Secunderabad, will deliver a lecture on `Lessons from Bt cotton and the concern on Bt Brinjal’.

The workshop will discuss issues like implications on farmers due to introduction of GM crops, biodiversity, food security, seed and food selfsufficiency as well as issue of intellectual property rights over technology and seeds.

The major topic for discussion will be on whether GM crops will provide a solution to hunger and poverty in the country. Minister for Forests and Wildlife Binoy Viswam will deliver the valedictory address. Dr V.S. Vijayan, chairman, Kerala State Biodiversity Board, will present a report.

Source: expressbuzz.com