06.11.2012 | permalink
There is ‘not a shred of evidence’ that genetically-modified food is harmful to humans yet a committee appointed by the Supreme Court has advised a halt to field trials of such crops disregarding their extensive cultivation in some of the most safety-conscious nations, and despite the need to meet rising food demand domestically. Geneticist and former vice-chancellor of Delhi University Deepak Pental, denounced the committee as ‘scientifically immature’ and termed its report as ‘worthless.’ He was ‘saddened’ that MS Swaminathan, a key scientist behind the Green Revolution, had supported the committee. [...] Journalists, he said, were not only reflecting the anti-science mood created by communists and civil society activists but were also feeding it, some out of ignorance, others for ideological reasons, when they should be acting as referees and reporting on the basis of evidence and not emotion.