Ahmedabad: Allowing genetically modified (GM)
food crop in the country will be a big disaster, a top genetic
scientist said here today.
"More than 90 per cent of the countries including those
from European Union have refused to grow GM crops. Over 80 per
cent of the GM food crops are grown in US, Canada, Brazil and
Argentina alone.
"India exports fruits and vegetables worth hundreds of
crore every year and if GM food crops are introduced in the
market, none of the other countries would it buy from India,"
Pushpa Bhargava, who is considered to be the pioneer in the
field of genetic engineering in the country told media persons
here.
The Padmabhushan awardee who was here for a lecture on
Bt-Brinjal at the Gujarat Vidhyapith said if GM food crop are
allowed, it will be a greatest disaster.
The Centre's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee
(GEAC) in October 2009 had given clearance to commercial
production of Bt Brinjal, the first ever GM food crop to be
cultivated in India.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 07, 2010, 23:01