New Delhi, Feb 2 (IANS) With less than 10 days to go for Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh's final call on the introduction of genetically modified brinjal, leading scientist Pushp Bhargava, who was also the Supreme Court nominee to the country's biotech regulator, Monday warned that if Bt Brinjal is allowed it would be the "single largest disaster".
"Scientists all over the world have opposed GM foods. Renowned scientists like Rupert Sheldrake and many others have said that they don't support GM foods. They have written to India saying that it should not be allowed. If despite all this and the public hearing against Bt Brinjal, it is released it will be the single largest disaster in the country," Bhargava told IANS over phone from Kochi.
Bhargava is the founder director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) as well as a National Knowledge Commission member.
He is also the independent nominee of the Supreme Court to the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), the country's biotech regulator.
He added: "If it is indeed allowed, we won't let it! It will end up as a third war for independence....We will seek legal action. We can file an appeal with the court, asking them to stop the commercial release of the crop, since Bt Brinjal will not be packaged and will look the same as normal brinjal. This is a processed food and the consumer must know what he buys or eats. So, since this highly processed GM food won't be labelled, it shouldn't be allowed."
Last year two leading European scientists who spearheaded the movement against GM food in Europe had visited India and appealed to India to reject the Bt Brinjal.
Gilles-Eric Seralinim, the president of the scientific council of the CRIIGEN (Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering), and Micheal Antoniou from the department of medical and molecular genetics at King's College, London, had criticised the Indian government's growing support for GM crops just ahead of the GEAC's approval to Bt Brinjal in October.
Bhargava stressed that when the entire European Union had denied Bt products, the only reason wellknown faces in the biotech industry like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw were vouching for its release was business interests.
He has in the past protested that Bt Brinjal was cleared by the GEAC and its expert committees without proper tests and under pressure from the developer Monsanto-Mahyco.
"They all have business interests. I know them well, and they are looking only at the vast export market that the US offers... I hope the minister takes note of this and puts a moratorium of seven years and sets up an independent testing lab facility. This will also give time to revamp the biotech regulatory system which is essential now," Bhargava said.
Last week, Bhargava alleged that the environment minister was under pressure from the Prime Minister's Office. Ramesh denied this.
Demanding that the government reverse its decision, farmers, scientists and NGOs have staged angry demonstrations and disrupted public hearings organised by the ministry on the issue in the past few days.
Ramesh said he could elicit the public response during his planned visits to key farming centres and regions of the country before taking a decision on Bt Brinjal.