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'Research will regress due to GM trial ban' - Times Of India

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'Research will regress due to GM trial ban'

Dh a n a n ja y Ma h a pa t ra , TNN N ov 10, 2012, 03.21A M IST

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Tags: The National Indigenous

The move

Technical Expert C ommittee

Supreme C ourt

intellectual property

indian economy

GM crop trials

economy

NEW DELHI: Opposing the Supreme Courtconstituted Technical Expert Committee's recommendation for a 10-year moratorium on field trials of genetically modified food crops, the Union government on Friday said if accepted, the move could set India back by two decades in terms of scientific research. Sounding the grave warning, the agriculture and environment ministries through attorney general G E Vahanvati said, "A 10-year moratorium on GM crop trials will be a blow to Indian science as it would put the country 20 years back in scientific research in comparison to fast growing economies who are developing GM crops like Brazil and China."
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The Centre added, "A ban on GM crop field trials will be highly detrimental and not in the national interest. Adoption of the interim recommendations of the TEC will bring to a halt the process of testing/assessment of the safety of GM crops. The entire working of the regulatory agencies, the research activities on GM crops and in turn the need of the country to realize the potential benefit of modern biotechnology in terms of food security would come to a virtual halt if moratorium/ban is imposed on field trials of GM crops." Vahanvati reminded the court that because of this reason, the court had on May 8, 2007, lifted the temporary ban on field trials by its September 22, 2006, order. Petitioners Aruna Rodrigues and NGO 'Gene Campaign' pitched for acceptance of the TEC's interim report and implementation of the moratorium on the ground that unless "precautionary principle" was applied in this case, grave and irreversible pollution of indigenous gene pool of food crops would take place, wiping out world renowned Indian agribrands like basmati rice. But the Union government found support from the industry in arguing for GM crops. The Centre, in its affidavit, said a moratorium on field trials of GM crops would have cascading implications. "The country will fail to attract scientific talent from the younger generations in the absence of

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1/28/13

'Research will regress due to GM trial ban' - Times Of India

opportunity. Over a period of time, lack of expertise in a critical area such as food security will set India back by 30-40 years," it said. Following the arguments for and against implementation of the moratorium, a bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and S J Mukhopadhaya referred the objections to the interim report back to the TEC and asked the expert body to consider them in detail and give a final report to the court in six weeks. The Union government said the TEC, before giving its interim report, had not properly considered its objections and even accused the expert group of exceeding its terms of reference while giving its conclusions and recommendations. It said Indian farmers and the Indian economy would be the biggest losers if GM crop field trials were stalled. If this happened, India would be forced to import technology by paying much higher price due to lack of its partnership in the Intellectual Property Rights and by losing out on the human resource development required for being in the race for global technology development which is essential for maintaining the superiority of nations, the Centre said. "In biotechnology and genetics, the principle science behind GM crops, India has done exceedingly well in investing in HRD, education and training since 1986 with the establishment of the Department of Biotechnology, the first country to do so," it said.
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'Research will regress due to GM trial ban' - Times Of India

Readers' opinions (1)
Sort by: Newest | Oldest John (Mumbai) 10 Nov, 2012 01:33 PM All over the world there has been a virtual war raging against indigenous crops by corporate giants such as Monsanto. It is all but impossible to contain GM crops inside their testing areas. When GM fallout is detected outside the testing area farmers are not compensated, instead they prosecuted for growing patented crops. GM crops sound so good on paper but in practice they are a very detrimental to bio diversity. The crops are also designed not to produce any seeds that can be used for the next crops. Instead farmers are forced into a position where they can only buy seed from one or possibly two suppliers who corner the market and as such can manipulate prices. the long term effects of the lack of biodiversity are not fully understood as yet. The dependence of all life on earth is tied up in a very subtle and complex web at which natural biodiversity is at the centre. There hasn't been a country yet that has been able to effectively contain GM testing within its boundaries, how does India expect to be any different. Come on India don't let the same thing happen here that is happening in many other countries. There is a heap of information out there on this subject, take a look, because this is a step that once taken cant be reversed. the only real winners from this are giant agriculture corporations and really evil company's such as Monsanto. Once again it will be poor farmers who will suffer because of this decision. There is a window of opportunity here to stop this, don't listen to the scare tactics of politicians, when do they ever put the common person first.

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