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Bt eggplants (brinjal) in India

 

Since 1999 GENET collects and distributes information on various topics in the field of genetic engineering in agriculture, food production and health. With this "Special Topic: Bt Brinjal in India" GENET aims at providing an overview about the debate on development and approval of Bt brinjal in this country, based on our archives.

2009-07-28 |

’GM food can cause the biggest health crisis’

For a country that doesn’t take much interest in scientists, Gilles-Eric Seralini is probably as well known as a scientist can get in India. Seralini is professor of molecular biology at the University of Caen in France, and he hit the headlines here early in 2009 when his analysis of the research data on the country’s first transgenic vegetable, the Bt brinjal, was presented to the Supreme Court of India. That’s when all hell broke loose. The French scientist’s findings were stark: he said the tests conducted by Mahyco, the company producing the Bt brinjal, were simply not valid.

2009-07-28 |

Indian Government announces GE vegetables within three years

The government’s parliamentary reply that three genetically modified varieties of vegetables—tomato, brinjal and cauliflower—will be in commercial production in three years clarifies a situation made murky by constant activism. This should be taken as proof that the government is serious about bringing about a second Green Revolution in a fast stagnating agriculture sector. India has been very slow to adopt GM technologies and has thus missed the opportunity to exploit the many advantages that come with GM farming. GM crops, at a minimum, offer the unambiguous benefits of higher yields and greater resistance to pests, both of which could give a big boost to the average farmer.

2009-07-08 |

Indian Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology develops GM fish

Even as the controversy rages over the transgenic Bt brinjal which awaits approval to start commercial production, Indian scientists have developed a genetically modified (GM) fish, which could be the first genetically engineered animal to get into the human food chain. [...] While a regulatory mechanism exists for overseeing the research and safety trials of GM plants before their formal approval for commercialization, no such arrangement exists for GM animals and other organisms.

2009-06-11 |

Bt brinjal approval can wait, says Indian Minister for Environment

"There is no great urgency for Bt brinjal to be launched. For Bt cotton, we should have a statutory comprehensive assessment to recollect our experience with it. Its success and its impacts need to be studied," [Indian forests and environment minister] said.

2009-06-02 |

Mahyco fails to convince Indian media on GE crop safety aspects

The Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Limited), propagators of the controversial Bt Cotton and Bt Brinjal seeds, could not convince the media on the safety aspects of their technology, at a press conference held here on Thursday. The company officials enumerated at least 25 different biosafety and food/feed safety studies on Bt Brinjal since 2002, but in a significant omission, they failed to mention that all of the studies were financed by Mahyco itself.

2009-06-02 |

Future of genetically modified foods bleak in India

With the new environment minister Jairam Ramesh disfavouring genetically modified (GM) foods such as a variety of brinjal and tomato, the future of such products seems to hang in balance. ”I am not gung ho on GM foods. Should we promote BT brinjal? Jury is still on and I am not sure. I am not great enthusiastic for GM foods,” the minister said.
”In fact, I would treat BT Cotton different from BT foods. But GM tea, GM coffee, GM rubber, yes, I am for them. Or for that matter, BT mustard is also important as I believe there is a role for GM crops, Ramesh said while outlining his priorities as he assumed charges of the ministry.

2009-04-17 |

GM battle hotting up in India

From North to South, the battle for saving our favourite vegetable brinjal from being poisoned with genetic modification is heating up. The day (April 2) a large number of protestors under the banner of Safe Food Alliance, and led by Mr Vellaiyan, a leader of the Tamil Nadu Traders Association, were arrested for staging a peaceful protest against the field trials for GM corn being held inside the premises of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University at Coimbatore, Swami Ramdev launched a nation-wide campaign to protect the country from the influx of dangerous GM crops/foods

2009-04-17 |

Different timelines on Bt Brinjal commercialisation in India

Commercial launch of the country’s first transgenic food crop — Bt Brinjal — might take much longer than expected with the government still awaiting the required data for analysis. [...] Ranjini Warrier, member secretary of GEAC, said in New Delhi, ”It might take one more year to introduce the crop. A lot of data still needs to be collected because trials have, so far, been conducted in confined environment.”

2009-04-16 |

Bt brinjal may be released commercially by year-end in India

Bt brinjal, the country’s first genetically modified (GM) edible product, is in the final stage of getting a clearance from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), the biotechnology regulatory body of the Government of India. The Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company-(Mahyco-) developed Bt brinjal had run into trouble last year with the Union health ministry and consumer organisations raising questions about its safety with regard to health.

2009-03-27 |

Bt brinjal will be approved within a year says National Seed Association of India

Approval for Bt brinjal will come by the end of this year or early next year, said Mr R.K. Sinha, Executive Director, National Seed Association of India. Even as the debate between the two groups in favour of and against the Bt brinjal rages on, Mr Sinha reaffirmed that the Union Government was committed to the cause of genetically engineered crops and would approve Bt brinjal once it completed all the trials and felt satisfied that it would not be detrimental to the interest of the farmers.

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