The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Anbumani for moratorium on GM food varieties

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Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Anbumani for moratorium on GM food varieties

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cautioning him against allowing genetically modified food into the market, “until all pending issues are resolved and questions answered.”

The UPA government should put “a moratorium on all GM crop” releases into the environment for “at least ten years,” he stated in a three-page letter, a copy of which was released to the press.

Dr. Anbumani recalled that when he was Union Health Minister, he had opposed GM crops. “More and more regions across the world are actively prohibiting GM crops.”

On the approval by a government-constituted committee for Bt Brinjal, he alleged that adequate discussions had not been held on the safety aspect. Also, given the fact that the States had the authority over agriculture, and some of them had declared their opposition to genetically modified crops, it was not desirable that the Centre impinge on their constitutional authority.

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