Scientists say goofed,stand by report

Embarrassed by the revelation that parts of its report on genetically-modified crops had been lifted directly from a magazine article...

Embarrassed by the revelation that parts of its report on genetically-modified crops had been lifted directly from a magazine article,a group of scientists from Indias top science academies has owned up the mistake but maintained that the main recommendations remained unaffected.

Speaking on behalf of the scientists,M Vijayan,president of the Indian National Science Academy,admitted that copying from a magazine article without the mandatory attribution was inappropriate even if the author of the article belonged to one of the academies participating in preparing the report.

Vijayan said even the conscious decision of the group to not include references or citations in the report was wrong.

In retrospect,and on the basis of the feedback subsequently received,we now feel that this (mention of references and citations) could have been done. We shall do so and make appropriate modifications, he said. Nevertheless,it is inappropriate for the report to contain chunks of material from another article,even if it was authored by a Fellow of a participating academy… We,the signatories of the report,take the responsibility for the slip, he said.

The report,compiled by six top Indian science academies,had given thumbs-up to the use of genetically-modified crops and recommended the immediate release of Bt brinjal.