NEW DELHI: Bollywood film-maker Mahesh Bhatt has called the Union environment and forest minister M Veerappa Moily a “corporate mole”.

A day after Moily reversed the decision of his predecessor Jayanthi Natarajan on GM crops and allowed field trials of over 200 varieties of genetically modified seeds, Bhatt on Friday questioned the minister's decision on Twitter.

Bhatt tweeted: “Moily is a corporate mole, (he) must explain why India needs GM crops when it produces over 260 million tonnes of food grains.”

Expressing his views against genetically engineered food crops, Bhatt said, “The government should be sued if GM crops contaminate our crops. Wake up consumers, once GM crops are out in open they can’t be withdrawn!.”

The filmmaker, known for his anti-GM crop stand, also took on multi-national seed companies for their ongoing attempts to eventually make production of transgenic food crop a reality in India in future at the cost of human health.

Bhatt tweeted, “In their hunger for profit, corporations turn science against the human race.”

His reaction came after Moily's move which allowed seed companies and agriculture research institutes in India to go ahead with scientific filed trials of different transgenic varieties of GM crops which had got clearance from the government’s regulatory body - Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) - in March last year.

The decision, which had been kept in abeyance by Moily’s predecessor Jayanthi Natarajan, will allow the companies and institutions to put more than 200 transgenic varieties of rice, wheat, maize, castor and cotton on filed trials to check their suitability for commercial production in future.

Though Moily had on Thursday emphasized that the decision would not in any way violate the Supreme Court's order in this matter and these companies (both government and private) and research institutions can go for trial only after getting nod from respective state governments, his clarification did not convince the anti-GM crop groups in the country.

The Greenpeace has asked Moily to explain on what grounds he has allowed the field trials for GMOs (genetically modified organisms).

“The environment minister has the moral obligation to explain to the citizens of this country what has changed since his predecessors took proactive positions to save our food. Various stakeholders including the parliamentary standing committee (PSC), technical expert committee (TEC) of the Supreme Court have pointed out shortcomings of the GEAC. The minister should further explain why a hasty decision of clearing field trials was taken while the Supreme Court decision is pending on the matter,” said Neha Saigal, campaigner, Greenpeace India .