India’s 1st GM vegetable Bt brinjal gets nod
Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Country's biotechnology regulator Genetically Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) on Wednesday gave environmental clearance to Genetically Modified Bt brinjal.
The GEAC gave its nod after assessing the recommendations of a special committee set up to study Mahyco's biosafety data accumulated for over nine years of its research on Bt brinjal.
Now the government has to make its stand clear on the issue.
If approved, GM brinjal will then be introduced to Indians for the first time even as food-experts have raised concern over the lack of bio-safety data of such crops having environmental implications in the country.
GM crops are those in which genetic material (DNA) is altered for some perceived advantage either to the producer or the consumer.