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Win to farmers, Govt hold backs Bt Brinjal in India

New Delhi: India government has decided to put on hold the approval for the commercial release of Bt Brinjal in the country until independent and extensive tests are carried out and the Bt Brinjal passes it successfully. This was declared here Tuesday by Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. India grows over 2000 varieties of brinjal, over 500,000 hectares of land for almost 4000 years. But the three states which grow more than 60 per cent of brinjal in India - West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar - are not open to the idea of introducing India's first GM food crop.

Seven other states are uneasy with the idea of GM foods, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. In fact Karnataka and Uttarakhand have already banned Bt brinjal.
 
"I will not allow the entry of BT brinjal in my state," Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa said on Monday.
 
In October 2009, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), which was set up to study the viability of GM food crops, gave BT brinjal the go ahead.

But activists, farmers and scientists protested and the Environment Ministry decided to hold nationwide public consultations on the issue before giving Bt brinjal the final nod.
 
"There are a number of complex issues with Bt brinjal, like effect on human health and genetic diversity. And since it is an item of daily use, the toxicity part is also there. There are a number of fears that have been expressed and we need to address all that," said Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
 
The key argument used by those who support BT brinjal is that after several rounds of bio-safety tests, it is safe for human consumption and more importantly, it will boost yields while reducing dependence on pesticides. On average, a brinjal crop undergoes between 50-80 rounds of pesticide spraying.
 
"The introduction of the BT gene in brinjal is very useful because this makes the crop resistant to the fruit bores which are responsible for huge losses. It also kills the bad insects without compromising on safety," said Dr Anand Kumar, a scientist at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
 
The companies marketing Genetically Modified breed say that without this technology, world agricultural output will not double by 2050 - something that is an absolute must to deal with food security issues. These concerns could pave the way for India's decision, as a weak monsoon coupled with inflation has meant the poor have been hit the hardest.
 
The world is divided over GM food. While the European Union (EU) has banned such crops, in the United States they are consumed by humans once they are processed.

The onus is now on India and Wednesday's decision could pave the way for Bt brinjal to become India's first GM food crop. What this means is that hundreds of brinjal varieties that we have traditionally enjoyed will soon become extinct.