New Delhi, Feb. 9: The ordinary brinjal has won the day. Mounting pressure forced Union forests and environment minister Jairam Ramesh to revoke the decision of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee on Tuesday and defer commercial cultivation of what could have been India’s first genetically modified vegetable crop.

"There is no over-riding urgency to introduce it, especially when public sentiments have been negative," said Mr Ramesh, feeling it was more appropriate to adopt a "cautious and precautionary and principle-based approach".

Mr Ramesh maintained that more studies were required to ensure genetically modified Bt brinjal would be safe for consumers and the environment. This GM vegetable had undergone field trials since 2006 and received approval for commercial cultivation from the GEAC in 2009.

The minister clarified that the moratorium on Bt brinjal would remain in place until tests were carried out to the satisfaction "of both the public and professionals". The minister said "independent scientific studies" were needed to establish "the safety of the product from the point of view of its long-term impact on human health and environment".

Mr Ramesh said it was "a difficult decision to make" since he had to "balance science and society", but that "the decision is responsible to science and responsive to society".

Indian seed company Mahyco, partner of US multinational corporation Monsanto, which has developed BT brinjal, had claimed the GM vegetable was more resistant to natural pests.

The minister had held seven national consultations across the country where activists had raised major demonstrations expressing serious concerns which could result from the consumption of GM crops, including cancer.

This move is being interpreted as a snub to food and civil supplies minister Sharad Pawar, who had expressed his approval of the GEAC decision.

"I believe seeds are as strategic to India as nuclear and space issues. The public sector seed industry is fundamental and should remain overwhelmingly in the public sector," Mr Ramesh said. The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, the University of Agriculture in Dharwad and two laboratories of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research are also developing GM versions of brinjal.

The minister did not elaborate on what the fate of those seeds would be. Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech had argued that a normal farmer sprayed pesticide at least 50 to 80 times in the entire life cycle of a brinjal crop, and that these toxins were transferred to the consumers.

Bt Brinjal, on the other hand, affects only the pests, and not the humans, Mahyco had maintained. But Gene Campaign, an NGO opposed to Bt Brinjal, had contended that the Bt gene produced a poison "which could harm pests, and therefore, where was the proof that it won’t be harmful to humans?"

The minister advanced his announced on Bt Brinjal by a day because the Madras high court on Tuesday posted for Wednesday a hearing on a petition seeking to declare as null and void the approval for the environmental release of Bt Brinjal in India. The first bench, comprising Chief Justice H.L. Gokhale and Justice K.K. Sasidharan, adjourned the hearing on the petition for Wednesday after counsel for the Centre sought time.

The petition was filed by K. Thiruthanikachalam, a Siddha practitioner and editor of a Tamil environment and health magazine. The petitioner claimed that several experts in the field had opined that "the release would invite serious risk for human and animal health". He also claimed that some members of the expert committee, including P.M. Bhargava, appointed by the Supreme Court to be part of the committee on Bt brinjal, had strongly protested against its introduction for human consumption.

Seven states in the country, including Karnataka, Gujarat, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand, had banned cultivation of Bt brinjal. India is the largest grower of brinjal and currently grows over 400 varieties.

Rashme Sehgal