New Delhi, October 15: The government today said it will take a decision on the issue of commercial cultivation of controversial Bt brinjal only after holding a series of consultations with scientists, farmers, consumer groups and NGOs early next year.
Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said he proposes to have consultations with scientists, agricultural experts, farmers’ organisation, consumer groups and NGOs in January and February.
“The decision will be made only after the consultation process is completed and all stakeholders are satisfied that they have been heard to their satisfaction,” he said, a day after the government’s biotech regulator gave nod for the commercialisation of the Genetically Modified vegetable whose suitability for human consumption has sparked a raging debate.
Except two, all the members of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), after going through the recommendations of two expert panels set up to access the data on the transgenic vegetable, had yesterday approved its environmental release.
Sources said P M Bhargava and Ramesh Soni, members of GEAC, disapproved of its release. However, the government has reserved its decision amid dissenting voices from various quarters including civil society groups, NGOs and food experts.
Bt brinjal is a transgenic vegetable which carries a gene called “Bt” from a bacterium which releases toxin to kill fruit and shoot borer insects.
—Agencies