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Monsanto says Bt cotton trials still on in India
Sep. 10, 2014
Monsanto continues to conduct field trials of genetically modified cotton seeds in India, despite a raging controversy in the country over allowing GM crops.
The company will continue to invest in research and development in India and provide solutions to the various needs of the agricultural community, said its newly appointed India chief executive, Shilpa Divekar Nirula.
"I wouldn't say anything is stuck. There are different products that are at different stages, so that process (on cotton) was stopped, and now it has started again," Nirula said during an interview at Monsanto's Mumbai office.
Nirula said the trials the company is currently carrying out India are confined field studies, restricted to specific places or with agricultural universities. On cotton, its trials are restricted to the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) seeds. The ministry of environment has so far approved trials for six traits of cotton, of which Monsanto has approval for two.
The rest of the trials which the company is undertaking are for hybrid corn and a few vegetable seeds to study worm attacks and yield among other things. India doesn't allow GM trials on food crops. At 40, Nirula is the youngest executive to head Monsanto's India operation. She takes charge at a time when there is a mounting opposition from environmental activists, religious organizations and some political parties against GM trials.
Some of the critics have gone to court, seeking a ban on the trails. The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, which is responsible for giving clearances for GM trials, hasn't suggested any ban saying that it was still studying the matter.
Source: The Economic Times
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