The minister for environment and forests, Jayanthi Natarajan, recently put on hold the field trials of a few genetically modified (GM) crops. The field trials for these crops were approved by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), the apex technical body that works under her ministry. In 2010, her predecessor, Jairam Ramesh, imposed a moratorium on the commercial release of Bt brinjal after it had passed through the due regulatory processes.
At one level, both these decisions indicate the big mess the regulatory system for GM crops is in today. At a deeper level, the two decisions demonstrate a deep-seated ideological resistance to the use of GM technology, a resistance that is at odds with the central government’s stated policy of using this technology for the benefit of the rural poor.
Read the full, original story here: “The poor need GM crops”
