Bangalore, Feb 10, 2010: India will not get its first genetically modified (GM) food for at least in 2010. In a major decision, overruling a regulatory approval, Indian government has decided not to permit commercial cultivation of the country’s first GM food product, a Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) brinjal (aubergine) variety, developed by global agri giant Monsanto’s Indian partner, Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco).

India’s minister for environment, Mr Jairam Ramesh, advanced his date with the decision on Bt brinjal by 24 hours and announced on Tuesday that Bt brinjal will not be released in the farms at least for another six months.

The environment ministry is likely to announce this decision in the Supreme Court of India on February 10, which is hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) against the introduction of the Mahyco-developed Bt brijal hybrid, which incorporates a Cry1Ac gene derived from a soil bacterium, Bt.

“My decision is the best interest of science and public interest,” said the minister after pouring over the overwhelming number of representations received from anti-GM groups from across the country during his seven public consultations held across the country in the last four weeks.

“There is no unanimity even among the scientific community,” justified the minister, even after the biotech regulator, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), in the environment ministry had voted overwhelmingly on October 14, 2009, to allow commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal hybrids of Mahyco.

The India Edition of BioSpectrum, in its February 2010 issue had predicted that the government may not permit the cultivation of Bt brinjal for now even though the regulatory approval has been given to it.

There has been intense pressure on the issue within the government with the agriculture minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, and minister for science and technology, Mr Prithviraj Chavan, batting for Bt brinjal. Mr Ramesh tried to go over GEAC by announcing a national public consultation, within days of regulatory approval. The environment minister heard the views of over 8,000 people in seven cities, with anti-GM activists led by civil society groups, farmer associations strongly opposing the introduction of Bt brinjal.

The environment minister’s hand was also forced by the announcement of at least eight state governments, which together account for over 70 percent of brinjal production, to ban cultivation of GM food crops in their areas.

India grows over eight million tonnes of brinjal annually and is the second largest grower of this vegetable in the world after China. The annual market for brinjal is estimated to be around Rs 8,000 crore ( $1.8 billion) and nearly 40 percent of the crop is lost due to attack by a major pest, Fruit and Shoot Borer. The Bt variety would have offered resistance and killed this major pest.