India Puts Moratorium on Bt Brinjal

The Indian government on Tuesday decided to put the commercial cultivation and use of Bt Brinjal on hold. Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Environment and Forests, said that the decision was reached "following a series of nationwide consultations." The Minister made available to the public a copy of his report, which considered inputs from scientists, civil society, academics, Chief Ministers of various states and other stakeholders.

"It is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary principle-based approach and impose a moratorium on the release of Bt-brinjal, till such time independent scientific studies establish, to the satisfaction of both the public and professionals, the safety of the product from the point of view of its long-term impact on human health and environment, including the rich genetic wealth existing in brinjal in our country," the minister wrote in his report. "A moratorium implies rejection of this particular case of release for the time being; it does not, in any way, mean conditional acceptance. This should be clearly understood," Ramesh said.

Read http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=57727 for more information.