India allows first large trials of GM food crop

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has approved the first large-scale field trials of a genetically modified food crop, a senior government official said on Thursday.

A new hybrid variety of the popular brinjal vegetable, which promises better yields with less intensive use of pesticide, will be tested in the latest GM trials to be held in the country.

"We have allowed large-scale field trials of Bt brinjal," an official at the environment ministry, who could not be named, told Reuters.

India has allowed commercial cultivation of genetically modified cotton since 2002.

That decision led to large-scale protests by voluntary organizations, which said bacillus thuringiensis or Bt cotton seeds were a health hazard and harmful for the environment.

But trade experts say the new technology has pushed up production and productivity.

"There has been less opposition to genetically modified seeds now as farmers have experienced higher yield due to Bt cotton cultivation," Sharad Joshi, a farmers' leader and lawmaker, said.

India, the world's second-largest cotton producer after China, overtook the United States with estimated output of 28 million bales (1 bale=170 kg) in the year to September 2007.