The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) is under great pressure to permit the partial release of Bt brinjal. The 19-member Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) has informally conveyed to the ministry its keenness to introduce the controversial Bt brinjal at the earliest.
Dr Usha Barwale Zehr, joint director, research, of Mahyco, a subsidiary of the seed giant, Monsanto, has gone public on how she expects the introduction of this genetically-modified product to be “accepted at the earliest”.
The composition of the expert panel is suspect with several members of the team are themselves advocates of genetically modified foods.
Without alluding to specific names, genetic scientist, Dr Pushpa Bhargava, a member of the GEAC, insists, “There is a clear conflict of interest. The ministry needed to have scrutinised the members much more carefully. How then can we be expected to take an objective decision. The only ray of hope is that several state governments, including Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Kerala, are determined not to allow genetic ally modified products in their states.”
Ms Aruna Rodrigues of Sunray Harvesters has written to environment minister Jairam Ramesh questioning why “there are neither genetic toxicologists, nor experts in animal feeding studies, nor independent experts in socio-economics and scientists with a track record and expertise in GMO environmental risk assessment” on this panel.
Ms Rodrigues has been a lead petitioner in the Supreme Court demanding a moratorium on GM Crops until risk assessment processes are conducted with scientific rigour and transparency.
She warns that “the risk assessment and hazard identification protocols for Bt brinjal will thereafter, act as guidance protocols for GM crops”.
It is, therefore, with great concern that she pointed out that “with one or two exceptions and keeping aside the appointment of representatives from Unani and Ayush (quite rightly) who are not GE crop experts, none of the remaining members is known to have analysed the raw data of Monsanto’s Dossier and the Bt brinjal EC 2 reports.”
Mr Ramesh admits that the composition of the panel needs to be re-examined though chairman of the GEAC, additional secretary, M.F. Farooqui, insists there is little possibility of an early release.