Controversial Bt brinjal cleared for entry as first GM food

After undergoing trials for the past nine years, a brinjal engineered through biotechnology to kill plant-eating insects -- the focus of a sharp and bitter debate on the safety of genetically modified plants -- has leapt closer to Indian dinner tables

The Indian government’s apex safety review panel for genetically engineered products, which functions under the forests and environment ministry, has approved, in principal, the release of Bt brinjal into the environment. Final clearance now rests with the central government. 
If cleared, Bt brinjal, developed by Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (MAHYCO), with technology sourced from the US multinational Monsanto, will be the first genetically modified edible item to be cleared for commercial cultivation in the country. The Tamil Nadu Agriculture University and the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, were partners in the development of Bt brinjal.
Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh said on October 14, 2009, that he had received the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee’s (GEAC’s) recommendation and would examine it before taking a final decision in a couple of days. “There are arguments for and arguments against GM food crops. We’re not going to act under any pressure -- from either companies or from non-government organisations,” he said.
Bt brinjal was earlier cleared by a government panel, but a review committee was constituted in 2007 when civil society groups and NGOs raised health safety and environmental concerns. Activists criticised the review committee’s decision saying the GEAC had not responded adequately to all their safety concerns.
Agricultural biotechnologists welcomed the decision, saying the engineered brinjal would reduce the use of pesticides. Bt brinjal is designed to secrete a protein that kills fruit borers that routinely attack brinjal. GM brinjal has been under field trials at several sites across the country for nearly a decade to assess its performance on farms; it was first sent to the GEAC for approval in 2004.
As of now, India allows only one genetically modified crop -- Bt cotton -- to be grown. That was cleared for cultivation in 2002. About 50 other genetically modified crops, nearly 40 of which are food items, are in various stages of development in the country. These include rice, tomatoes, cabbage, wheat and watermelon.
Media reports quoting a senior biologist who participated in the GEAC meeting said at least three members of the GEAC had expressed concerns over Bt brinjal and had dissented on the approval. “It’s intellectual corruption -- it appeared to be a predetermined decision. The others had already decided what they wanted to do,” Pushpa Bhargava, former director of the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, said.
Bhargava raised several technical issues over the design and implementation of safety studies that had been submitted by the developers of Bt brinjal to the GEAC while seeking approval for commercial cultivation.
The approval has sparked a fresh call from consumer representatives on the need to label all GM products and produce in the country, something the government has agreed to introduce but has not yet implemented.
“I’m disappointed. In the absence of labelling GM food, this is a threat to consumers’ rights to choose what they want to eat,” said Bejon Misra, a member of the government’s food safety and standards authority, and a consumer activist.
Kailash Bansal, a scientist at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, disagrees: “People in North America have been consuming genetically modified soybean, corn and papaya for years. Genetic engineering introduces a precise change in the make-up of the plant -- the Bt brinjal will allow farmers to use much less pesticides.”
India’s 500,000 hectares of brinjal farms spread across Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal, produce about 80 lakh tonnes of the vegetable annually. Some scientists estimate that fruit borers eat up as much as 50% of the crop.
Bt brinjal has been the test case for transgenic crops in the country. There are four varieties of brinjal on the table for approval, the important one being Cry 1Ac.
Ramesh has in the past made a “distinction” between Bt cotton and Bt brinjal arguing that Bt cotton is a non-edible item and, therefore, need not necessarily be the reason why other transgenic crops should also be allowed for cultivation. “I am going to take a decision based on the merits of the case in the interests of the country and of public health,” he said.
Strongly disapproving of the manner in which some NGOs, particularly Greenpeace, have been registering their protest, he said it amounted to blackmail. Greenpeace activists have been sending thousands of faxes from all around the world.
Greenpeace reacted saying it was shocking that the GEAC had “mindlessly” gone ahead and approved Bt brinjal even when informed scientists and citizens of the country raised serious concerns about the nature of the safety studies. In June this year, Ramesh said he did not support genetically engineered foods and that there was no great urgency for Bt brinjal, Greenpeace activist Jai Krishna said in a statement.