Bt brinjal approval rekindles debate on inadequate protocols and rules

Expert says experience shows that lot of illegal spread that happens during field trials gets into the food chain

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)'s green signal to additional field trials to two new varieties of Bt brinjal a few months back has rekindled the debate on genetically modified crops and whether India has sufficient bio-safety standards to allow commercial cultivation of such produce.

GEAC had, in a meeting held a few months back, approved additional field trials of two new indigenously developed varieties of Bt brinjal called Janak and BSS-793 containing Bt Cry1Fa1 gene (Event 142).

The transgenic varieties of brinjal hybrids have been developed by the state-run National Research Centre for Plant Bio-Technology (NRCPB), a body under