Bt Brinjal: Activists say no to ‘hazardous’ crop

NGOs and experts are totally against the move. “Bt Cotton was more of a farmers’ headache,but Bt Brinjal is now our headache too as consumers of the vegetable. It is more of a commercial interest with major companies having their stake in it,than the interest of public health,” said Sharma.

He added: “The approval has been given on the basis of a 90-day experiment on 10 mice conducted by a panel of scientists. But results showed reactions on kidney,liver and blood. The study has completely ignored the adverse effects of consuming Bt Brinjal in the next generation and various other areas before introducing this poisonous vegetable for human consumption. Instead,scientists have called the findings to be statistically significant but biologically insignificant.”

With Gujarat being the fifth largest producer of brinjal,NGOs in the state are presently into creating awareness among the farmers about the problems associated with the introduction of Bt Brinjal. “Brinjal exports fetched Rs 2 crore last year. It is hazardously illogical to genetically modify the crop. It is a planned strategy to victimise the farmers,” said Kapil Shah of Jatan Trust,an NGO.