Will not allow Bt Brinjal in Karnataka: Yeddyurappa

Jan. 20: Karnataka will not sow Bt Brinjal, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa declared on Wednesday and said he would tell Union environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh as much when he calls on the latter in Delhi on January 25.
Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa have already opposed Bt Brinjal due to controversies surrounding Genetically Modified (GM) foods and fears that these could cause harm to farmers, the environment and human and animal consumers. Mr Yeddyurappa’s decision is based on feedback he received from various quarters, especially the pro-RSS Samruddha Swadesha, which favours organic farming, as well as the Left-leaning Karnataka Rajya Ryot Sangha (KRRS). The two organisations have strongly opposed Bt Brinjal. “In fact, I want the BJP government to declare Karnataka a “GM seeds-free” state as Kerala has done”, KRRS president Kodihalli Chandrashekar said. Mr Yeddyurappa said officials of the Horticulture department too had expressed strong reservations about Bt Brinjal. Greenpeace, the state Organic Farming Mission and the Western Ghats Task Force too are opposed to GM crops.
“There is no question of taking any decision that will harm the long-term interest of the farmers for the sake of short-term gains. If the farmers do not want Bt Brinjal, then I am with them,” he said.
Top officials of the departments of agriculture, horticulture, finance and irrigation were present when Mr Yeddyurappa made the announcement after listening to the views expressed by NGOs and farmers’ representatives. There are reports, however, that Dharwad University has signed an MoU with Mahyco for field-testing Bt Brinjal. Bt stands for Bacillus thuringiensis, a soil-dwelling bacterium, commonly used as a pesticide. Bt Brinjal is derived from a genetically modified variety of the bacterium, aimed at introducing into a brinjal crop a toxic protein that kills the fruit borer worms that attack it. Bt Brinjal was developed by Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech, a joint venture between Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company and US firm Monsanto. A controversy arose over it after a French study and several international scientists declared it unsafe.
The matter was referred to the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), India’s biotech regulator. The GEAC cleared Bt Brinjal in October 2009, but the Centre is to take a final decision on whether it will allow it to grown commercially. It is currently in a process of consultations with state governments.