Moratorium on one Bt brinjal,scientists pin hopes on new one

The mood after the moratorium of a large part of the scientific community was despondent. But recent meetings suggesting that the decision may be reconsidered,and public assurances by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar have restored hope.

“There is no question that we were disappointed with the moratorium on Bt brinjal with the Cry1Ac gene. But the Agriculture Minister,while addressing a convocation at the Indian Agriculture Research Institute,made a statement saying we should keep our confidence and keep at our research. We are very hopeful of the Bt brinjal with the Cry1F gene,” said P Anand Kumar,Project Director,NRCPB,which is under the Ministry of Agriculture.

Like the Bt brinjal that has been put on moratorium,this one too has been created to be resistant to one of the most damaging pests to brinjal — the fruit and shoot borer,which destroys both the flower and vegetable. The difference,the scientists hope,is that there will be more established clarity on the protocols that declare the crop safe or unsafe by the time this crop is subjected to more testing.

“We have worked on this Bt brinjal Cry1F for 8 years. Under a public private partnership,we first licensed private seed growers with this Bt brinjal in 2005. In some cases,this is in advanced stages: one of the companies is currently field-testing the crop. There will be two more rounds of field-testing before it goes for testing in different labs,” said Kumar. Licences have been granted to Bejo Sheetal,Vibha biotech,Krishidhan,Nath Biogene and Shriram bioseed. Bejo Sheetal has completed one year of field testing.