RASHME SEHGAL Did the arrival of US diplomat Nina Fedoroff, science and technology adviser to secretary of state Hillary Clinton in New Delhi on Monday evening force Union minister of environment Jairam Ramesh prepone his decision to put a moratorium on Bt Brinjal by a day? Ms Federoff has been in the forefront in urging the Indian industry to boost research and development for transgenic crops like Bt Brinjal. She is also of the opinion that the spiralling food crisis can be met only I by genetically modified foods. f Mr Ramesh denies that Ms , Fedoroff had sought a meet ing with him. "I had not heard from her and nor had she (Fedoroff) sought any meeting with me," said Mr f Ramesh. "I took this decision (on Bt Brinjal) by listening to my conscience," the minister insisted. But activists are not will ing to buy this explanation. t Dr Vandana Shiva, who has t been campaigning actively t against the commercial release of Bt Brinjal, said, "I was contacted by Nina Fedoroff and it was clearly indicated to me that she wanted to discuss the pros and cons of this GM food with me." Bt Brinjal has been developed by the USbased firm Monsanto and its Indian counterpart Mahyco. The Cabinet is however split down the middle with this decision. Minister of human resource development Kapil Sibal had been a strong advocate of GM foods in his earlier avatar as minister of science and technology. Mr Sibal says, "We need a debate on this issue. I believe a decision must be based on science and science alone." Sharad Pawar, minister of food and civil supplies and Prithviraj Chavan are strong votaries for GM foods. "We stand by the trials done by the regulatory bodies including the Genetically Engineering Approval Committee," is the standpoint taken by Mr Chavan. Mr Pawar has also reiterated his support for the introduction of Bt Brinjal following clearance from GEAC. PM Manmohan Singh's position on GM crops has been conciliatory. He stressed at a recent science congress meet that GM crops raised "legitimate questions of safety."