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The article “Zero tolerance for GM foods in Europe” (Business Line, November 2) points out that while the rest of the world is united in rejecting genetically modified foods, India is allowing Bt brinjal into the country.

Indeed, this kind of balanced discourse carried in your paper is fundamental for readers in the context of the increasingly murky direction that policies on food and farming are taking.

Given that there are at least six-seven varieties of local brinjals just in Tamil Nadu, how can GM brinjal be pushed down our throats as an ‘alternative’? Fruit and vegetable farmers have reported good yield s; farmers have reported an annual yield of over 10 tonnes on a mixed vegetable farm of roughly two acres.

Why, then, this sudden rush to adopt GM brinjal?

The readers’ backlash on various blogs is also interesting to note, showing that the Internet is becoming a great leveller. Perhaps, the agri/food industry must give consumers credit for a certain level of intelligence and promote safe pest-resistant growth other than through GM foods.

Suresh Jeyaraman e-mail

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