Feb 10, 2010

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Government imposes moratorium

India: No approval for genetically modified aubergines

No genetically modified Bt aubergines will be grown in India for the time being. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh announced an indefinite moratorium yesterday and further biosafety tests. Both supporters and opponents are of the opinion that the decision will have a negative impact on the authorisation of other genetically modified crops in India.

Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh during a hearing on Bt aubergines
Photograph: The Hindu

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) had approved the cultivation of the Bt aubergine, called ‘brinjal’ in India, on 14 October 2009. However, following serious public protests, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh put the approval on hold again just one day later. In January and February he organised a series of public hearings, in which a total of around 8000 people took part and which led to heated debates between supporters and opponents of GM aubergines. While opponents see a risk to the diversity of the aubergines grown in India and fear that farmers will become dependent on private firms, supporters point to the field trials, which showed that Bt brinjal requires around 80 per cent less pesticide.

The Indian government is also evidently divided. In January, Ramesh’s cabinet colleagues Shahar Pawar (agriculture) and Prithviraj Chavan (science) publicly supported the view that the authorisation decision was purely a matter for the GEAC and should be accepted. Ramesh himself said he had tried to take account of both scientific findings and public concern.

The controversy surrounding Bt brinjal also flared up in conjunction with the biosafety tests that the applicants – two Indian universities, seed manufacturer Mahyco and US group Monsanto – had submitted to the GEAC. When the GEAC was ordered by the Indian Supreme Court to publish the raw data in 2008, Greenpeace commissioned French scientist Gilles-Eric Seralini to conduct another statistical analysis of the data. As in other similar cases, and contrary to the original findings, Seralini found indications of significant risks. The GEAC set up an expert committee at the beginning of 2009 to look exclusively at the criticisms levelled by Seralini and others. It came to the conclusion that the Bt aubergine was safe (as reported by GMO Safety at the time). Three of the 20 GEAC members regarded the tests as unsatisfactory, but they were outvoted on 14 October.

The GEAC must now draw up new tests for the Bt aubergine in collaboration with scientists who were critical of its authorisation. In addition, Ramesh told the Times of India that there would be fundamental reforms to the authorisation of genetically modified organisms. The GEAC is to be renamed the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee and will be responsible only for assessments, but not for the final authorisation. The Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Law and Justice are also considering setting up a new body, the National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority, to draw up regulations for the cultivation of GMOs in India. Ramesh said that the public sector must become much more involved in plant research and safety research in future and must not leave this field exclusively to private firms.