JOIN USThe NGO has also demanded that Union Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh initiate a thorough investigation into the clearance and qualify in certain terms that the moratorium is for all Bt brinjal and not just the commercial production of Mahyco’s brinjal.
Varsity research
Activist and environmentalist, Leo Saldanha said that the clearance given to Bt brinjal was “illegal” as the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad, which collaborated with US Multinational Monsanto in the development of Bt brinjal, had not sought permission from the Government for the research.
The research and process itself is a fundamental violation of the Bio-Diversity Act of 2002. The research of the Agriculture University in Dharwad must have been monitored and authorised under Section 5 of the Act,” he said.
Saldanha claimed that the moratorium was only for Monsanto’s Bt brinjal and not for varieties of the plant which were being developed at the Indian Institute of Horticultural
Research (IIHR) and other institutes in the country.
Legal action planned
The members of the NGO further added that the organisation would contemplate legal action depending on the outcome of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed against Bt brinjal in Chennai High Court.