GM maize trials done on the sly: Nitish Kumar

TNN, Mar 15, 2011

NEW DELHI: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has accused the multinational seed corporation Monsanto, the environment ministry's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee and Indian Council for Agriculture Research of conniving to begin trials of GM Maize in his state even before it had got clearance from the environment ministry and without informing the state government either.

In a letter written to environment minister Jairam Ramesh, Kumar said the trials by Monsanto on ICAR sites in Bihar began surreptitiously some days before GEAC even accorded it the mandatory clearance to begin testing the Bt Maize varieties.

Kumar said the trials began on February 21 and Monsanto informed the state government only on February 24. The decision to allow the trials was conveyed by GEAC to Monsanto on February 24. GEAC claimed it had also conveyed its decision to state government departments but these never received any communication from the Centre, Kumar said.

He also said that the experimental farms of ICAR were not at the 'isolation distance' required. Isolation distance refers to the scientific practice of keeping the experimental farm for such trials at a safe enough distance from other agricultural fields.