Debate on GM food crops
Dr Anbumani Ramadoss has been dubbed as controversy’s
favorite child ever since he was anointed as the union minister of
health and family welfare of India, be it the sacking of AIIMS director
Dr Venugopal for reasons obscure and illogical, or the
banning of tobacco on screen, which did not go well
with the film fraternity. Now Dr Anbumani Ramadoss has
captivated media attention again for the wrong reasons. In a recent
summit held in New Delhi, the health minister has made an outright
statement voicing his dissent and disapproval for the introduction of
genetically modified (GM) food crops in India, until proper research
has been conducted on them.
Anti-GM activists have lauded the health minister’s move.
Their main contention is that the transgenic food crops could lead to
drastic health hazards in India, they also urged the government to
freeze the commercialization of Bt food crops. The health minister
asserted, “All GM food must undergo tests in Indian
conditions before they are allowed into Indian markets. The Bt brinjal
has not been tested in India. I am writing both to the Prime Minister
and the agricultural minister about this.”
The bioagri companies have slammeda this statement as yet another
publicity stunt by the health minister. As the country’s
leading biotech magazine, BioSpectrum, in this special cover story, has
tried to bring out all the shades of opinion and available scientific
evidence to start an informed debate.
No scientific evidence to
prove Dr Ramadoss’ contention
In the wake of the controversial statement, industry leaders have
unanimously voiced out that Dr Anbumani Ramadoss has made the statement
without any scientific backing and is hell bent on slowing down the
technological progress of the industry. “It is
nothing but an attempt to get political mileage,” commented
an industry expert who does not wished to be named.
“Research for GM food crops like Bt brinjal has
been going on for six years. The process of checking the biosafety of
the crop is exhaustive and intensive. As far as quality
issues are concerned the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is very
stringent in giving approval for the products that come out into the
market,” commented Nandkishore Kagliwal, CEO, Nath Biogene,
Aurangabad.
India is one of the six leading countries that are conducting field
trials of GM crops. Besides brinjal, there are over two dozen varieties
of rice and an equal number of tomatoes, potato, sugarcane, soy and
okra awaiting approval. GM crops like soybean, maize and corn have
already been introduced in countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada and
US; even after eight years of its introduction there is no opposition
or health hazards which are observed.
Moreover the transgenic or the residue of the Bt protein within the
food crop is so low, that it can in no way lead to any drastic health
hazards altogether. “For one kilogram of a Bt food crop, the
protein incorporated is just one milligram. So the whole issue of high
toxicity and health hazards to humans is redundant,” opined
Dr Govind Garg, head, R&D, Krishidhan Seeds.
“I do not see why the health minister has to pass such a
statement since it is not his department. Even the food and agriculture
department has not passed any judgment and they have also given their
approval. I have full faith in the regulatory authority of India and
they will consider all the aspects and will not take any hasty
decision,” added Dr Govind Garg.
Suresh Agarwal, MD, Bejo Sheetal seeds, Jalna, said: “DBT has
introduced some rigorous clauses. Before introduction to the market,
the Bt brinjal is fed to animals, they are checked in a period of 90
days for any effect. The crops are tested in 60 locations in India. The
entire spectrum of trials and tests comes up to approximately to around
Rs two crores for a period of five years. So taking all this into
consideration, I do not think that Dr Ramadoss’ statement has
any meaning.”
The ripple effects of the Bt cotton revolution are still being felt in
India and industry analysts predict that GM food crops will give birth
to a similar revolutionary change in Indian agriculture “Dr
Ramadoss along with anti-GM activists is doing nothing but closing
doors to a technology which can actually change the face of the
industry. In states like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, around 30
percent of direct oil consumption is from cotton
seeds for the past three years. There have been no
side effects reported.” said Suresh Agarwal.
The triggering factor for Dr Ramadoss’ move was the rumors of
animals like goats and cows dying when fed with Bt brinjal. This again
is a sheer case of misinterpretation claims industry experts.
“Ramadoss claims that the gene in brinjal caused
bacterial damage in the intestine when tested on animals. However this
is not the case, because it was clinically proven that the harm was not
because of the gene but due to some other factors. Research for Bt food
crops has been going on for such a long time and no damages have been
reported till date. Such technical and scientific statements should not
be made until and unless it is proven,” opined MG
Shembekar, managing director, Ankur Seeds, Nagpur.
Why does India need GM
crops
With the thumping success of Bt cotton, which was introduced five years
ago, the bioagri community is confident that Bt brinjal will follow the
same path. When Bt cotton was introduced, production of cotton
immediately jumped from approximately 160 million bales in
2003 to approximately 310 million bales in 2008. This would
not be the case of non-Bt cotton. Since Bt is resistant to insect
attack, the wastage of food crops will get reduced and production is
expected to increase four-fold.
In the case of Bt brinjal, farmers would make an additional income of
around Rs 15,000 crore (that is another $3 billion) and they would be
saving Rs 5,000 crore of pesticides. Moreover in a non-Bt
food crop, it has been observed that pesticides need to be sprayed
around 20 times to prevent the attack of insects thereby leading to
detrimental effects on the environment and above all lead to health
hazards to humans.
“Due to its huge population, a country like India needs
increased food production to cater to the raising demand. If
India becomes pro-Bt, then we will not just have increased yield and
income but there will be a reduction in unnecessary wastage of crops,
the product becomes marketable, there will be economic benefits to the
farmer and the socio-economic gaps in the Indian populace will
decrease. After visiting several villages and understanding the adverse
effects of chemical pesticides in farmers, I am sure GM crops are
inevitable,” Dr Govind Garg added.
Introduction of Bt brinjal will automatically be an encouraging sign
for other Bt crops like Bt okra and Bt tomato. “Our country
needs it more than any other country. We need better quality and
quantity production of food,” pointed out Suresh Agarwal
Unlike the EU and the more advanced nations in the world where the
production of non-GM food crops has touched an all time high
and population is low, in India GM food crops is more of a need than
just a luxury crop. According to the International Service for the
Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) report
‘Brinjal is grown on nearly 550,000 hectares in India, making
the country the second largest producer after China with a 26 percent
world production share. It is an important cash crop for more than 1.4
million small, marginal and resource-poor farmers. Brinjal, being a
hardy crop that yields well even under drought conditions, is grown in
almost all parts of the country. Major brinjal producing states are
West Bengal (30 percent production share), Orissa (20 percent), and
Gujarat and Bihar (around 10 percent each). In 2005-06, the national
average productivity of brinjal was recorded around 15.6 tons per
hectare. Despite its popularity in India, brinjal cultivation is often
input intensive, especially for insecticide applications. Brinjal is
prone to attack from insects, pests and diseases, the most serious and
destructive of which is the fruit and shoot borer (FSB) Leucinodes
orbonalis. FSB feeds predominantly on brinjal and is prevalent in all
brinjal producing states.’ Loses of up to 70 percent for the
farmer has been reported due to this problem. On the other hand,
a Bt Brinjal crop will bring a full-stop to such
problems and resist FSB attack and hence lead to economic gains for the
farmer.
In a recent conference in Delhi presided over by Sharad Pawar, the
union minister of agriculture, two months ago, there was an unanimous
opinion that GM food crops are inevitable in India.
“It was a new technology, which would boost the industry,
make it insecticide free and all research is going in that
direction. At this point of time industries need government support.
Government should have a discussion with all the stakeholders to
understand their needs and demands. That will allow us to stand in
competition with countries like the US and China. China has a lot of on
going work in GM food crops whereas India is somewhat lagging behind.
The problem in India is that despite the number of research
laboratories and talent, unfortunately there is no positive work
happening because of lack of incentives. In China, the government plays
a proactive role. The Government of India should encourage
public-private partnerships,” opined Shembekar.
If Dr Ramadoss has his way, it will be a loss not just to the industry,
Indian farmers will get adversely affected. “Bt cotton was a
huge success among farmers. The Bt concept was accepted widely by
farmers and the GM food crops will receive the same acceptability.
Research should fulfill the needs of the farmers and not the needs of
politicians,” revealed Shembekar. “It has been
accepted among farmers all across the country that the health minister
can only delay the process but not stop the technology from being
introduced,” said Suresh Agarwal.
Current work
A lot of Indian companies are already ready to either introduce new GM
food crops or are planning to venture into the GM food crop
production. While Mahyco will be the first company which will
bring out India’s first Bt brinjal with the
technology licensed by Monsanto. Nath Biogene is in the
process of getting an approval for its Bt brinjal and within
another three years it will introduce it into the market after which
they will introduce Bt rice. Jalna-based Bejo Sheetal seeds had started
research on Bt brinjal three years ago, and within two years it will
launch its product into the market; Bt brinjal will be followed by Bt
okra, Bt tomato and Bt cauliflower. Looking at the
multi-facet benefits, Nagpur-based Ankur Seeds is also planning to
focus on Bt brinjal and other GM food crops.
Bt brinjal was first developed by the Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company
(Mahyco). The company used a DNA construct containing the cry1Ac gene,
a CaMV 35S promoter and the selectable marker genes nptII and aad, to
transform young cotyledons of brinjal plants. A single copy elite
event, named EE-1, was selected and introduced into hybrid brinjal in
Mahyco’s breeding program. Mahyco also donated the Bt Brinjal
technology to the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore
and University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad. The event EE-1
was back-crossed into open-pollinated brinjal varieties. Mahyco also
donated the technology to public research institutions in the
Philippines and Bangladesh. Several other research institutions, both
public and private have also been developing Bt brinjal using different
genes. Several other research institutions, both public and private
have also been developing Bt brinjal using different genes. The
National Center on Plant Biotechnology (NRCPB) has developed Bt brinjal
varieties expressing the cryFa1 gene. The technology was subsequently
transferred to companies including Bejo Sheetal, Vibha Seeds, Nath
Seeds and Krishidhan Seeds. The Indian Institute of Horticultural
Research (IIHR) is also developing Bt brinjal using the cry1Ab gene.
Scientists are also looking for ways to develop Bt brinjal in
conjunction with other multiple and beneficial traits.
Safety concerns of GM foods
While GM foods have been branded as Frankenstein foods by their
opponents citing that the products are unnatural, potentially harmful
to humans and are capable of harming the environment, the arguments in
favour of the same aren’t less as well. A study conducted by
Lucy Carter at the University of Queensland Australia has founded
that there was no evidence to justify continuing moratoriums
on commercial GM planting so long as thorough risk assessments were
done. The study found the benefits of GM plants and food outweighed the
risks, finding no compelling evidence of harm to humans and
environment.
Lauding the benefits that biotechnology has to offer Dr KK Tripathi,
advisor DBT, said, “Genetic engineering has given us many
benefits including decrease in pesticide use, increase in shelf life
and increase in productivity. As far as the introduction of
GM foods in India is concerned, all developing nations are looking
towards India.” He refers to Bt brinjal, that is soon to be
relased in India after relevant testst have been conducted.
“It is the first product of its kind in the world. The
benefit of the technology used for Bt brinjal is that there is 90
percent reduction in the pesticide use and 20 percent increase in
productivity. Farmers have been asking us as to when will the seed be
available to them,” Dr Tripathi added.
Dr Vibha Dhawan, executive director, Advanced Biotechnology, TERI, also
exudes the same confidence. She said,” This is a
wonderful technology wherein we are trying to mitigate the
problem of insect attack, not by using chemicals
but by modifying the crop which is not toxic to human beings, which are
targeted only at the insects. In a tropical country like India, the
temperature is conducive for microbes and insects and that is one of
the reasons that our post-harvest losses are very high and a lot of
pesticide has to be sprayed to protect the plants. The introduction of
Bt brinjal will reduce the risk associated with pesticide residue,
which is very high in a crop like brinjal.”
Biosafety is the biggest concern that activists and GM opponents raise
when it comes to the release of GM crops. Dr Tripathi feels that we
need to look at it with a fresh perspective. “ The issue of
safety in case of genetic engineering comes up just because we have
changed the genetic structure at the particular place with a particular
trait. We have broken the species barrier, so we know that there may be
something unintended and hence biosafety tests are conducted.
While in hybrids(genetic modification), we change a whole lot of
traits, some of which we don’t know about. So safety issues
are relevant in both the cases,” he
said.
RK Sinha, executive director, All India Crop Biotechnology Association,
advised that with a regulatory set up in place all the worries will be
eliminated. “Trials and tests are important and they are
being done rigorously by the companies under the supervision of GEAC.
It is only after biosafety is proved beyond doubt in regard to health
of human being, animals and environment that GEAC gives permission to
commercialise a product. The same process is followed in the case of Bt
brinjal.” Talking about the farmers experience with
Bt cotton he says, “As far as Bt cotton is concerned , the
experience of the farmers is overwhelming. It is giving them returns in
terms of productivity, yield etc. As far as food safety is concerned,
GM food has been there for more than a decade the world over. No
adverse effect has ever been reported. If it is safe for the outside
world, it should be safe for India as well.”
Nayantara Som with
Jahanara Parveen and Shalini Gupta