It is strange that Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh disallowed the introduction of Bt Brinjal on the ground that it had not been tested in government laboratories (“The neta-babu raj”, A V Rajwade, July 19). This masks the fact that the greenhouse experiments and initial studies for the Bt Brinjal were approved by a government body, the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation (RCGM), and the large-scale field trials were conducted in research farms belonging to the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR) and under the supervision of its director. The IIVR comes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Further, experimental seed production by Mahyco was monitored by the director, Horticultural Research and the director, research of the State Agricultural University in Maharashtra (where the trials were conducted). The government was, in fact, closely involved in the regulatory approval protocol all the way. So, maybe, contrary to what Rajwade writes, Ramesh has no faith in the technical knowledge of government institutions.
V K Choudhury, Kolkata
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