• 
• 

Published on December 4, 2007

After being postponed several times, the Cabinet is supposed to make a decision today on whether the ban, issued by the Thaksin Shinawatra administration in 2001, should remain or be lifted.

In the letter, the academics said they wanted the government to keep the ban for the sake of bio-safety, farmers' rights and exports of organic foods. They are afraid the trials will pave the way for GM plants to be "leaked" into the environment and "contaminate" natural born plants.

The Thaksin administration issued the ban on April 3, 2001 after the "Bt cotton" strain - developed by US biotech firm Monsanto to be resistant to worms through insertion of a bacteria gene - was found growing outside designated trial areas.

The academics said they wanted farm trials banned until the country has a law on bio-safety to protect the biological resources of the country.

The Nation