The Hindu Business Line : Norms ignored in Bt brinjal trials: Panel

The independent expert committee that looked into the bio-safety aspects of Bt brinjal trials by Mahyco has alleged that DBT (Department of Biotechnology) guidelines on bio-safety assessment of transgenic crops were not followed by the developers of transgenic brinjal.

The final report of the committee, headed by Dr K.P. Prabhakaran Nair, a well-known soil scientist, was released here on Wednesday. The committee, which was set up by NGOs, also comprised Dr Ramesh V. Bhat, former Deputy Director of Food and Drug Toxicology Research of the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN); Prof A. Narayanan (plant physiologist); and Dr M.S. Chari (entomologist).

The committee felt that with the existing data it was not possible to arrive at any meaningful conclusions regarding the safety of the product or its efficacy.

"Results of some toxicity tests show that unless raw data is examined and full report seen, it is not possible to arrive at any meaningful conclusions regarding safety of the product," it observed. It found data from the company insufficient to draw any conclusion about the efficacy of Bt brinjal.

Stating that there was uncertainty and variability in the risk assessment process, the committee felt it was prudent to follow a precautionary approach.

It also pointed out that satisfactory methodologies to measure possible long-term health effects or adverse effects of GM foods were yet to be evolved. "Hence, we needed a guarded approach in this regard," it felt.

Recommendations

The committee has asked the Union Ministry of Health, with the help of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), to evolve and implement guidelines on biosafety. It also wanted the Ministry of Agriculture to evolve and implement guidelines on field trials and cultivation.

"The task of evolving guidelines should not be confined to the organisation meant for promoting biotechnology," they pointed out.

The panel felt that issues pertaining to labelling and consumer choices needed to be worked out. "This is extremely important in the Indian context where most of the produce is sold in scattered and unorganised markets. The scenario offers little scope for effective labelling mechanism," the report said.

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