October 22, 2009
The Indian government has postponed its decision on the approval of genetically modified Bt aubergines. It reacted thereby to a campaign mounted by environmental and consumers’ groups demanding a ban on the plant. Previously, the majority of a committee of experts from the Indian bureau responsible for approval had assessed the Bt aubergine as safe and had recommended its approval.
Jairam Ramesh, Indian Minister for the Environment, stated that the government intends initially to provide an opportunity for public comment. At the beginning of next year, a series of consultations with scientists, with associations representing farmers, consumers and the environment and with social organisations subsequently will be conducted. A decision on further steps will follow.
Scientists have criticised the postponement. They suggest that the minister indeed sends the wrong signal by overriding the scientific decision of the responsible bureau (the Genetic Engineering Approval Committees, GEAC). The Bt aubergines have been examined in twenty-five studies without an indication of safety flaws with regard to health and the environment. An additional consultation would not be expected to yield new findings.
Nonetheless, three members of the twenty-strong committee of scientists had spoken out against the approval of the Bt aubergines. They stated the desire to address all doubts that had been raised through a study conducted by the French scientist Gilles-Eric Seralini. Seralini claims to have found that Bt aubergines effect harm to goats and rabbits. He regards the Bt aubergine as "unfit for human consumption". As already has been the case with earlier investigations by Seralini, his experiments with aubergines have been criticised by a majority of scientists as methodically faulty and his conclusions refuted.
The Bt aubergine – known as brinjal in India – was developed in the framework of a cooperative project in which three Indian research institutes as well as Monsanto and the Indian seed company Mahyco participated. Similarly to Bt maize or Bt cotton, the Bt aubergine produces a protein that is effective against certain insect pests, such as the aubergine fruit borer in this case. The use of chemical plant protection agents currently employed to combat this pest is expected to be reduced radically. The approval procedure applies to four different types of aubergine.
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