The Embroiled Brinjal - Business India

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Agriculture

November 29, 2009

The embroiled brinjal Official approval of the laboratory engineered Bt brinjal has drawn battlelines between its promoters and consumer rights activists

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he recent endorsement of genetically modified (GM) brinjal in India by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has roused the ire of consumer rights and environment groups across the country. And the resultant furore has forced the government to the back-foot. Ratification of the biotechnology regulator’s sanction by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) would have permitted commercial cultivation of this hybrid vegetable (known as aubergine in British English and eggplant in North America) by its developer, the Jalna-based Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Ltd (Mahyco). But MoEF has been deluged by over 45,000 protest facsimiles and letters urging it not to clear a method that does not address fundamental concerns with regard to GM foods like Bt brinjal and that can pose risks to human health and the environment. There were also mass protest fasts called by activists nationwide on 16 October, which happened to be World Food Day. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh says his ministry will seek comments on this issue by 31 December. “During January and February 2010, I propose to have a series of consultations in different places with scientists, agriculture experts, farmers’ organisations, consumer groups and NGOs,” he points out. “All points of view will be represented in these consultations.” Noting that strong views have been expressed both, for and against, he says his objective is to arrive at a careful, considered decision in the public and national interest. “This decision will be made only after the consultations process is complete and all stakeholders are satisfied that they have been heard to their satisfaction,” he asserts. If cleared by his ministry, Bt brinjal will become the first ever commercially cultivated GM food crop in India and the first ever such GM

vegetable in the world embedded with the Bt gene. Being genetically engineered, Bt brinjal comes under the purview of the ‘Rules for Manufacture, Use/ Import/ Export & Storage of Hazardous Micro Organisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells, 1989,’ notified by the MoEF under the Environment Protection Act of 1986. According to Mahyco, which is 26 per cent owned by American biotech multinational Monsanto, Bt brinjal

The brinjal: long on Indian soil

will increase yields for farmers, reduce the need for pesticides by 70 per cent and pose no health safety hazards. Badrinarayan Barwale, chairman, Mahyco, says the brinjal, which is one of the most popular and widely grown vegetables in India, receives the highest dosage of pesticides among vegetables. This is due to a single pest, the fruit and shoot borer (FSB), which can destroy 50-70 per cent of the crop in severe infestations. Modifying the product Mahyco developed the transgenic brinjal by inserting the Cry 1Ac gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. It sourced the gene from Monsanto’s Indian subsidiary, Monsanto Holdings Pvt Ltd (MHPL), and introduced it into the brinjal genome via genetic modification techniques at the Mahyco Research Centre at Jalna. Mahyco undertook the Bt brin◆

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jal line selection and backcrossing, while it conducted agronomic testing jointly with the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR). Mahyco was also behind the introduction, in 2002, of Bt cotton, brandnamed Bollgard, the only genetically modified organism (GMO) currently in commercial cultivation in India. It had developed this hybrid cotton jointly with MHPL’s sister subsidiary, Monsanto India Ltd (MIL). The MoEF then had not involved stakeholders in the run-up to its introduction. The Bt toxin, when ingested by the insects, disrupts their digestive processes, ultimately resulting in their death. Independent studies, however, show that the toxin survives digestive processes and can remain as residue that can be transferred into intestinal bacteria. Bt toxin had caused powerful immune responses and abnormal cell growth in mice. It has also been shown that all the Cry proteins in Bt crops have an amino acid sequence similar to known allergens and are hence potential allergens. “The matter is sensitive,” said a MoEF official. “The GEAC’s recommendations to us are not binding and the minister is also not planning to take any decision in haste.” But the protestors were outraged that the GEAC, which falls under the environment ministry, was swift with its clearance even when Ramesh had mentioned at a public forum soon after the UPA g o vernment was formed last June that he did not support GM foods and saw no great urgency for Bt Brinjal. Farmers’ groups protesting the clearance include Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, Bharatiya Kisan Union, PMK’s Farmers’ Union, Uzhavar Periayakkam, Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Association, Tamizhaga Vyavasayigal Sangham and the Shetkari Sanghatana. Pushpa M. Bhargava, former director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, who has been appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee matters of the GEAC, is one of the two dissenting committee members. “It’s a disaster; it’s unethical,” he says. “No time was given to us as members to review the findings.” ◆ S ARO SH B AN A