India can certainly do without GM mustard, feels Harsimrat

New Delhi, For anti-GM crusaders in the country, Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s views on the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee’s (GEAC) nod to commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) mustard would be heartening.
On the GEAC’s decision as regards the GM herbicide tolerant (HT) mustard variety developed by Delhi University, Harsimrat said there was absolutely no reason for India to go in for a genetically engineered variety, given the better option of promoting “safer and healthier” organic food grown in certain states in the North-East and elsewhere.
She had another angle to the row. Importers like Japan (which procures 40 per cent of food from outside and wants “safer and healthier” alternatives) might lose interest in Indian varieties. The real challenge, she said, is to have the trust of knowing it was non-GM. “When our north-eastern states are already producing organic food and the entire western world is trying to emulate them, why should we go for GM food?” she said.