The Hindu Business Line : Move to appoint Pental as Bt-brinjal panel chief opposed

Several NGOs have opposed the GEAC (Genetic Engineering Approval Committee) decision to appoint Dr Deepak Pental, Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University, as chairperson of the 13-member expert committee on Bt-brinjal.

In a memorandum sent to Mr B.S. Parsheera, Chairperson of GEAC, representatives of these NGOs pointed out that Dr Pental was a known biotech promoter and that his university was undertaking the same system of bio-safety testing as followed for Bt-brinjal and other crops in this country.

There was a serious conflict of interest in appointing him as the chairperson because the recommendations of the committee would have a bearing on his own project, the NGOs observed.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

The NGOs included Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (Andhra Pradesh), Organic Farmers' Sangam of Arachalur (Tamil Nadu) and Organic Farmers' Federation of Erode Region (Tamil Nadu).

The NGOs also felt that the terms of reference for the expert committee had been limited mainly to evaluating the feedback received on the bio-safety data generated by the company. It should have been asked to look at the complete set of data too. "Further, one of the important tasks for this committee and its terms of reference ought to have been the assessment of the need for Bt-brinjal in this country," they said.

They also demanded that all the feedback received by the GEAC be put up on its Web site.

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