Academies to study Bt brinjal

The beleaguered Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh who faced sharp criticism from his cabinet colleagues on opposing the introduction of genetically engineered Bt brinjal wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday on the steps he had taken to reanalyze the controversy.

Ramesh along with K Kasturirangan, member (science) in the Planning Commission met the presidents of six scientific academies and a select group of scientists on March 19 at the Indian National Science Academy here.

Besides INSA, presidents and representatives of Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Academy of Medical Sciences and National Academy of Engineering Sciences attended the meeting.
The minister approached the academies – considered as independent think tank in scientific disciplines – with a request to look at the entire GM debate as well as the proposed legislation to have a biotechnology regulatory authority.

“It was a preliminary meeting. We hope to follow up with a detailed review to study the issue absolutely thoroughly,” INSA president M Vijayan told Deccan Herald.
The government has not set any time frame to complete the review, said Vijayan, a distinguished professor at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
In his letter to the Prime Minister, Ramesh said it would be “ridiculous to accuse him of being anti-science on the basis of the Bt brinjal decision.”
The minister claimed that all the six academies are appreciative of the steps he had taken concerning Bt brinjal.