The unpredictability and irreversibility of Genetic Modification (GM) as a technology and the uncontrollability of GM crops in the environment coupled with scientific studies pointing at the potential risk to human health and environment has resulted in a controversy across the world around the need for introducing such potentially risky organisms. Added to this is also the corporate control of the seeds, the most important input in agriculture, through this technology.
The nationwide debate on Bt Brinjal highlighted the concerns of all sections of the society including scientists on GM food in general and Bt Brinjal in particular. This also saw 13 state governments writing to the central government about the concerns they have with Bt Brinjal. All this at that time had lead to a moratorium on Bt Brinjal declared by the Union Environment Minister Mr Jairam Ramesh.
Instead of heeding the citizens concerns and establishing a strong regulatory mechanism with the mandate of protecting the health of the citizens, livelihood of our farmers and safety of our environment the Government is going ahead with the establishment Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) which will act as a single window clearance mechanism for GM crops.
“The BRAI Bill is a wrong bill introduced by the wrong people for the wrong reasons”. Listed below are some of the concerns with this cantankerous Bill.
- Firstly the bill was drafted in a secretive fashion with no opportunity for the general public to comment on a legislation which deals with something as important as the safety of our food.
- There is an inherent conflict of interest as the Authority is proposed to be under the Ministry of Science and Technology, which also has a mandate to promote biotechnology.
- There is no intention or mention of the independent long term safety assessment of GM crops.
- Centralised and narrow decision making process with no mechanism of consultation from the public which is against the spirit of democracy.
- No mechanism of transparency - worse yet, bypassing the citizen’s right to information by overriding the Right to Information Act.
- Most importantly, overrides the state government’s authority over health and agriculture.
Such a body which is centralised, non-transparent and biased is a sure recipe for corruption and will work systematically to lower the bar for approval of potentially dangerous GM food in our country.
The BRAI Bill also proposes to take away the decision making power of the state govt on whether to grant permission for experimental releases of GM crops in the state. Given that such open field experiments have been found to contaminate regular crops and reach our food supply state governments have been refraining from granting permissions for field trials. In 2011 the states of Bihar, West bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Kerala had denied permissions for Field trials.
Besides being a threat to the food and farming in the country, the bill also challenges federalism by taking over the authority of the state government on public health and agriculture both of which will be impacted by the introduction of GM crops.
The Central Government had tried to introduce the bill twice last year but ceased at the last moment due to opposition inside and outside the parliament. There is a good chance that the BRAI Bill will be tabled in the upcoming Budget session of the Parliament.
We believe that our state government can and should stand on the side of its people and oppose such dangerous legislations like BRAI which threaten our health, agriculture and environment. As our Chief Minister we urge you to write to the Prime Minister and stop BRAI Bill from being introduced in the parliament.
Sincerely,
