NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) – India has postponed the launch of its first genetically modified vegetable, saying it would wait for more scientific studies on the impact of the new variety of eggplant.
“The moratorium will be in place until all tests are carried out to the satisfaction of everyone,” said environment minister Jairam Ramesh.
“If that means no start of production, so be it.”
He said until tests are done, the country should build a broad consensus to use GM technology in agriculture in a safe and sustainable manner.
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The decision is seen as boosting the Congress party among its main farming vote base, much of which is fearful of GM use, and comes despite pressure from farm minister Sharad Pawar, Bt brinjal, the genetically modified eggplant variety.
It also signals Congress’s leading position within the ruling coalition, which is made up of difficult allies such as Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party. The Congress and Pawar, who also controls the food portfolio, are involved in a blame game over rising food prices.
“The Congress has taken one step back in the hope of taking two steps forward later,” said political commentator Amulya Ganguli.
“The government has been sensitive to public opinion and they have defused an upsurge among its farmer voters by this decision. It has more to do with politics, not any scientific reason.”
The move also marks a personal victory for Ramesh, a rising reformist minister who played a crucial role in nuancing India’s climate change stand and brokering a political accord in the December Copenhagen conference on global warming.
Ramesh conducted public debates across the country to test the support for GM food crops. Most of those meetings saw strident opposition to the idea. Most non-Congress-ruled state governments, including the major eggplant-growing areas, were opposed.
“They killed three birds with one shot,” said N. Bhaskara Rao of the Centre for Media Studies. “They have defused the public sentiment against them, number two is the political opposition was neutralized and three they prevailed over Sharad Pawar.”
A government panel last year supported introduction of GM eggplant, but the government said it would consult experts and farmers before accepting the recommendations.
“It is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary, principle-based approach,” Ramesh said.
The decision could come as a blow to Monsanto, which is looking to enter India’s huge market in GM food crops.
“Very serious fears have been raised in many quarters on the possibility of Monsanto controlling our food chain if (GM eggplant) is approved,” Ramesh said.
Advocates of GM crops argue such varieties can easily increase food supply for India’s 1.2 billion people and protect farmers because GM crops can withstand adverse weather and increase production.
“Nearly 1.4 million (eggplant) farmers will be deprived from (GM) technology,” said Bhagirathi Choudhary of the South Asia office of International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, a GM advocacy group.
“This would amount to a net loss of $330 million US per year to Indian brinjal (eggplant) farmers.”
Opponents say GM seeds can be a hazard for the environment and public health. However, India allowed the use of GM seeds for cotton in 2002, and crop productivity has increased sharply.
What the heck is a brinjal?
- Brinjal is also known as eggplant, aubergine, begun or bringal. It is a plant of the family Solanaceae and genus Solanum.
- The fruit is classified as a berry, and contains numerous small, soft seeds, which are edible, but bitter because they contain small amounts of nicotinoid alkaloids. It is a close relative of tobacco.
- It is a perennial often cultivated as an annual and can grow 40 to 150 centimetres tall, with large coarsely lobed leaves. The stem is often spiny. The flowers are white to purple, with a five-lobed corolla and yellow stamens. The fruit is fleshy, less than three cm in diameter on wild plants, but larger in farmed varieties.
- Different varieties of the plant produce fruit of different size, shape and colour, especially purple, green, or white.
- A wider range of shapes, sizes and colours is grown in India and in Asia.
- Oval or elongated oval-shaped and black-skinned cultivars include Harris Special Hibush, Burpee Hybrid, Black Magic, Classic, Dusky, and Black Beauty.
- Slim cultivars in purple-black skin include Little Fingers, Ichiban, Pingtung Long, and Tycoon. Slim types in green skin include Louisiana Long Green and Thai (Long) Green. Dourga has white skin. Traditional, white-skinned, egg-shaped cultivars include Casper and Easter Egg. Bicoloured cultivars with colour gradient include Rosa Bianca and Violetta di Firenze.
