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Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE-AG), which represents agri-biotechnology industry in India, has called for speedy clearance of Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) and Seed Bill 2010.
“These two would go a long way in addressing food security of the nation and improve productivity,” Dr P.S. Dravid, Member-Managing Committee of ABLE-AG, said.
Addressing a press conference, here, on Saturday, he discounted apprehensions on safety. “It is absolutely safe to eat genetically modified food,” he said.
For farmers, it was important to reduce cost of production, while improving productivity. “Cotton farmers have benefited a lot from biotechnology. It needs to be replicated in other crops. Last year, it was an unusual year that saw record output. In drought years, output could be far less,” he said.
Biotechnology could offer resistance to both floods and drought. Any delay in decisions could delay release of good technologies, beneficial to farmers.
Refuting criticism from non-governmental organisations, he said such arguments were not based on scientific facts. “India has the toughest regulatory norms. There is absolutely no reason to fear,” he said.
Labelling
Dr B Dinesh Kumar, Deputy Director of National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), said people would have a choice. “Food Labelling Bill would make it mandatory for companies to indicate whether something is GM food or not,” he said.
Dr Dravid said labelling would be done, if need be.
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