Inder Verma, who works at the famous Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in California and is a pioneer in gene therapy and cancer research, believes GM mustard is good for India as it may reduce the edible oil import bill and is also excited by the fact that an Indian company has developed a vaccine against the Zika virus.
Excerpts from an interview:
Q: India is grappling with whether to introduce genetically modified mustard or not, there is a raging debate, a petition is pending in the Supreme Court, do you think India should introduce GM mustard in the farmer's fields?
A: I believe that GM foods are very important component as the world becomes larger and more people are born and we need an improved quality of food. I'm overall a great supporter of the GM foods because I think they are an essential need if you want to feed the world.
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Q: Recently there was also this announcement of a
breakthrough an Indian company Bharat Biotech Ltd, of Hyderabad which is headed Krishna Ella, that they were the first company in the world to have a candidate vaccine for the Zika virus, and they have two patents on it, does it excite you as a molecular biologist, that India is taking such a lead?
A: Oh I'm very excited, particularly because I know, Krishna Ella he has been at it for quite some time, he has been involved with Hepatitis virus he has been involved with the Rota virus and if they say such a Zika vaccine has been developed at the moment, I think it's fantastic.
Q) Is the development of the Zika virus vaccine by and Indian company a big leap?
A) When I first read this news, I was very happy because India developed such a vaccine that the other countries were only thinking of developing. Bharat Biotech has been able to develop a vaccine for Zika virus because they have tremendous experience.