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Nagpur, Jan 28 (ANI): Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Rameshhas said that several State Chief Ministers have asked him not to take hasty decision on the commercial cultivation of BT brinjal.

Talking to reporters here on the sidelines of a National Consultation Meet on Bt brinjal, Ramesh said: “Chief ministers of states such as Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka and Orissa have written to me that there is a need to conduct more experiments on Bt brinjal.”

“There is a need of conducting more experiments on BT brinjal, especially regarding human safety part. They don’t opine that to introduce (commercially release) Bt brinjal is that important,” he added.

He further said it is the duty of scientists to dispel doubts regarding the GM crop.”I believe that it is the duty of scientists to clear doubts of people and there reservations regarding Bt brinjal. Such important decisions (whether to commercialise BT brinjal) should be taken in a democratic way and in a transparent manner,” said Ramesh.

However, outside the venue of this meet, farmers under the banner of ‘Bharatiya Krishak Samaj’ had assembled to stage a protest demonstration against the Bt brinjal.

They greeted the minister on his arrival with slogans against the proposed introduction of Bt brinjal and also burnt an effigy of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC).

The GEAC, which had been instituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, has recommended field experiments of BT brinjal.

BT brinjal is a transgenic brinjal created by inserting a gene cry1Ac from soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into brinjal. A US-based multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation and a Maharashtra-based Indian company market BT brinjal in India. (ANI)