The senior CPI(M) leader, Mr S.R. Ramachandran Pillai, has endorsed the use of genetically modified crops at an international meet conducted by the party here, stirring up a controversy.
Addressing delegates at the third International Kerala Study Congress, Mr Pillai, a politburo member and national president of the Kisan Sabha, said that blindly opposing GM crops was mere superstition.
Mr Pillai said that GM crops should be used after ensuring that they did not cause harm to humans or animals.
Their use was necessary to increase agriculture production, he said.
China and other nations were using such seeds and studies had also proved that they were helpful in improving the health of women and infants, he added.
Mr Pillai’s stance is contrary to the CPI(M)-led Kerala government’s stringent opposition to the use of GM crops. The chief minister, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan, is particularly opposed to them.
This was reiterated by the agriculture minister and CPI leader, Mr Mullakkara Ratnakaran, at the meet itself.
“There are many doubts about the long-term impact of GM crops,” he told the delegates.
“I humbly disagree with Mr Pillai.”
The minister added that the prominent agriculture scientist, Dr M.S. Swaminathan, had also suggested that Kerala should be made a GM-free zone.
The pro-CPI(M) science organisation, the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad, has also come out against Mr Pillai’s endorsement of GM crops.
At the same time, the CPI(M) leader and finance minister, Mr T.M. Thomas Isaac, said Mr Pillai had just tossed an idea at the meet. “We welcome a vigorous debate on this,” he said.