Another minister speaks up,CSIR chief says Bt brinjal 100% safe

Though he has refrained from attacking Ramesh publicly,Pawar is learnt to have urged the agricultural scientist community not to be disheartened,and to continue its work in the field. Sources said he has asked scientists and officials to gather evidence to counter the claims of those trying to run down Bt Brinjal through slogan-shouting and orchestrated protests against transgenic food crop technology.

Chavan,who has in the past supported the introduction of Bt brinjal,stressed that new technologies like genetic engineering should not be postponed indefinitely merely for lack of scientific consensus.

“Let there be a reasoned scientific debate. If more tests are required,those certainly should be carried out. But if there is still no unanimity within the scientific community,the government has little option but to go by the majority and dominant scientific opinion,” Chavan told The Indian Express.

“But slogan-shouting and protests cannot be allowed to cloud our scientific vision,” he said.

Chavan is the second Minister to have expressed unease with Ramesh’s decision,which overruled the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC),the technical body authorized to decide on such matters. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal,Chavan’s predecessor in the Science and Technology Ministry,had earlier expressed his discomfiture with Ramesh’s decision.

The divide is likely to push the government into expediting the long-pending proposal for the creation of a National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA). Chavan revealed that the bill,which would allow for the setting up of a regulatory framework for genetically engineered items,might be introduced in Parliament’s budget session.

The authority would take over the functions of GEAC and the Review Committee on Genetic Modification (RCGM),a similar body under the Department of Biotechnology,as well as some responsibilities of the Drug Controller General of India,under the Health Ministry.

It would be responsible for all kinds of research,manufacture,import and use of biotechnology products,including genetically-engineered plants and organisms.

The bill has been in the works for a very long time,and is now being readied for Cabinet clearance ahead of its introduction in Parliament.

Meanwhile,allaying fears expressed by critics,over the effect of Bt brinjal on human health,the director general of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR),Dr Samir Kumar Brahmachari,said he was “100 per cent” certain that the Bt gene was not going to enter the human body.

“If Bt had to enter humans,it probably already has. We have been eating soya and corn imported from the United States which has introduced Bt genes in these crops. Some of these fears are unfounded,” said the eminent bio-physicist.

Brahmachari said he supported the setting up of a regulator for biotechnology similar to the one for telecom “as soon as possible”.

“The regulatory framework has to be established as soon as possible. An effective body like the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) is needed that can also address concerns of monopolies in the biotechnology sector,” he said.

Brahmachari said GM food was about giving the option to consumers and farmers to decide what was best for them.

His predecessor at CSIR,Dr R A Mashelkar,expressed similar views.

“In areas of genetic engineering,a principle of precaution is understandable but at the same time it has to be promotional as well. We cannot stop the juggernaut of new technology,” Mashelkar said from Australia.