Odisha demands withdrawal of bill on biotechnology authority

In a letter to T. Subbarami Reddy, Agriculture Minister Debi Prasad Mishra says the bill was introduced when there was a debate on GM crops

Ahead of meeting of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forest to discuss Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of lndia (BRAI) Bill, 2013, the Odisha government on Monday demanded withdrawal of the bill.

In a letter addressed to T Subbarami Reddy, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, State Agriculture Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said, “the BRAI bill is introduced at a time when the debate in our country around Genetically Modified organisms (GMOs) in general and GM crops in particular is at its zenith.”

“While there are claims about the success of Bt cotton, which are questionable again, there is also mounting evidence on the potential adverse impacts of GM crops on human health, environment, our food security and livelihood security of our farmers and farm labourers,” Mr. Misrha said. He said the Odisha government had in the past expressed concern over releasing of Bt Brinjal. In fact Odisha was one of the 13 State governments which had formally opposed the introduction of Bt Brinjal.

“Unfortunately, the Ministry of Science and Technology has been trying to create a single window clearance system in the form of the BRAI for easy approval of GM crops. The bill, you would remember, has been facing opposition both inside and outside Parliament for various reasons since 2011, when it was first listed for introduction,” noted State Agriculture Minister in the letter.

He said the ministry, instead of resorting to a public debate on this legislation of utmost national importance, had introduced it in Lok Sabha in a hasty manner on April 22, 2013 while the whole house was in chaos due to the various issues.

“The Ministry of Science and Technology now proposes to take away the powers of the State government and to vest them in the BRAI. This is unconstitutional and certainly unacceptable to State government and the people of Odisha,” Mr. Mishra pointed out.He emphasised that any decision to introduce a GM crop or to permit its field trial in Odisha must ultimately rest with the State government, which alone is empowered by the Constitution to look after the fields of agriculture and health in Odisha.

“There is an increasing body of scientific evidence on the impacts of GM crops on human health and biodiversity. Given the fact that both the Parliamentary standing committee and the technical expert committee had highlighted these risks and the need for long-term, independent bio safety studies to assess the long-term impact to health and environment from the introduction of such novel organisms, any new regulatory system should have had this as a main principle. BRAI Bill fails terribly in this respect,” the Odisha Minister said.