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On the third anniversary of the moratorium on the commercial release of Bt brinjal, both pro- and anti-genetically modified (GM) crop campaigners rooted for their respective stand.
The Coalition for GM-Free India observed February 9 as Food Safety Day, marking three years of moratorium on Bt brinjal in India.
Pointing out that food security arguments around GM crops were baseless and fallacious, over 150 scientists sought the intervention of the Ministry of Environment and Forests to counter the Agriculture Ministry’s affidavit in the Supreme Court that GM crops were essential for food security.
In a letter to the Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarjan, the scientists said food security had no link with yield increases. They presented data from various countries to support their argument.
Non-GM solutions
“Food security is not just about yield increases, but poverty, livelihoods and access for the vast majority of the people. We have buffer stocks, mountains of grain rot and yet 320 million people go hungry in the country. So, it’s not a supply side issue, as is made out to be by the Agriculture Ministry,” said Kavita Kuruganti, Member, Coalition for a GM-Free India, at a press conference.
Calling for non-transgenic solutions to increase productivity, such as the rice-intensification programme, Kuruganti said there were molecular approaches to developing newer seeds and India should invest in them instead.
On why open-field trials were being opposed, she said organisms that could propagate themselves in open fields were dangerous without proper safeguards in place and strict implementation of regulatory measures.
“We are not opposed to research trials. But something as complex as transgenics should be tested in greenhouses with simulated conditions such as drought, etc,” Kuruganti added.
In the letter, the scientists pointed out flaws in the Agriculture Ministry’s stance that the apex court’s Technical Expert Committee (TEC) had recommended a 10-year moratorium on agri-biotech research.
“The Ministry has, in its narrow definition, included only GM crops as agriculture biotechnology. The TEC is specific; it is about GM crops and trees, and not about other biotechnologies,” says the letter.
Meanwhile, at a session on “Technologies for Tomorrow” at the Indian Seed Congress, Deepak Pental, former Delhi University Vice-Chancellor, said the delay in having a good bio-safety regime was hurting transgenic research in the country. He stressed upon the need for robust public-private partnership models for furthering research.
Pental also called for creating a national document on germplasm by undertaking technology mapping for each crop.
The seed industry believes that technology would help the country address food security as arable land shrinks amidst growing demand for food. Industry leaders stressed the need to fuel growth of the seed sector by bringing in uniform policy and operative mechanism across States, higher R&D and introduction of latest and effective practices and technologies.
> vishwanath.kulkarni@thehindu.co.in
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