Bt Brinjal- The Indian Chapter

India’s biotechnology regulator Genetic Engineering Approval

Committee (GEAC), on
October 14th gave its green
signal to the environmental
release of Bt brinjal, the first
genetically modified food
crop to be allowed in the
country. With this, a debate
has gripped the entire nation
of whether or not to allow GM
food crops as this could be a
precedent for many other
such crops.
Though GEAC has put
its stamp on the crop, the
final decision rests with the
Union Environment Minister, Mr. Jairam Ramesh who has explicitly
averred that the matter will be treated with no urgency and only after
public deliberations will a final decision arise. However, apart from
environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s nod, commercial cultivation of
the genetically modified vegetable will require approvals from the
ministries of agriculture and health and family welfare.
Currently, Bt cotton is the only genetically modified crop allowed
for commercial cultivation and its introduction was prompted by its
pests becoming increasingly resistant to pesticides. The commercial
cultivation of Bt cotton has reportedly increased cotton yield from
308kg per hectare in 2001 to 508kg per hectare in 2006. The success
of Bt cotton in India has in fact raised hopes for Bt brinjal as well.
Although brinjal may not transform India’s fortune as was the case with
Bt cotton, it might as well clear the deck for many such similar
interventions.
The most prominent thing that irks the supporters as well as its
critics is the absence of a labeling mechanism for foods in India. This
will deprive the consumers to make an informed choice about the
foods they consume. More over the labs in the country are not at
present capable of identifying GM products, and there is also a big
question hovering of who will regulate these products. Whether it will
be the Ministry of Food, or will it be Health; Environment or Science
and Technology or is there any other separate ministry to be formed in
the future to look into the GM matters. Without a clear agreement on
these issues, a decision cannot be arrived on this matter. But the time
granted should be used constructively to assess the impact of the Bt
Brinjal on the Socio – Economic tapestry of Indian Agriculture.
 The ethical angle is going to be another major issue which is
going to consume lot of newsprint in the coming months. Though
scientific definitions may not delineate GM Brinjal as a vegetable with
animal traits, to strict vegetarians willful mixing of bacterial genes may
raise serious religious and sensitive issues. Cotton per se never faced
this problem as cotton is not a food crop. Though sixty percent of the
Cotton plant biomass is indirectly or directly linked to our food system,
e.g. Cotton seed oil in our vanspati ghee or cotton leaves as fodder to
goats and sheep, we have not yet been exposed to direct GM food crop
like GM soybean or GM maize. Approval of GM Brinjal will open
floodgates to most of them.
If the advisories of the companies are to be trusted, the
transgenic vegetables are as safe as any vegetable available in the
market, while Anti GM protesters paint a picture of a very gory world of
Seed Corporations ruling the world. So where is the truth, may be
somewhere in between. What can the Government do to inform the
public, can we ask for every GM food be labeled like our green and red
dotted foodstuffs? If after a period of 20 years, GM food is found to be
dangerous, something like the discovery of toxicity of DDT after almost
fifty years of indiscriminate use, will the mega corps pay for the clean
up of whatever extent possible?
One obvious and unwanted fall out of this controversies are the
misconceptions created in an uninitiated mind about the amazing
science of biotechnology. This branch of genetic sciences has the
capacity to change the world. We would definitely not have looked at a
biotech Brinjal with suspicion, which produces insulin, or Vitamins, for
example, instead of Bt Toxin. Valuable time and resources are being
frittered out in search of finding a soybean which resists an herbicide
rather than a soybean with double protein content. Maybe a
corporation will not find it profitable but it could have gained a little
more goodwill. Maybe government can take these initiatives and put
forward legislatures to this effect.
- Anjana Nair-