Concerns over Bt Brinjal | Burning Issues | PDF Download

• Bt brinjal to resist the brinjal fruit and shoot borer (an insect), was found growing illegally in Haryana.(Month ago)
• This was a different Bt brinjal from the one developed by the Indian company.

BT Brinjal

• Mahyco’s Bt brinjal has been under a moratorium since 2010.
• Some farmer groups have demanded the release of Mahyco’s Bt brinjal
• It is true that the moratorium was imposed by the then MoEFCC, despite being cleared by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).

Impacts

• Effect on prices
• Issues on Biosafety
• Nutritional issues
• Opinion of the govt.

Effect on prices

• The National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research anticipates that if Bt brinjal performs as Mahyco proposes, brinjal output will increase and retail prices will fall, benefiting consumers far more than farmers.

Biosafety Issue

• crucial deficiencies in the characterisation of Bt brinjal, and in the environmental impacts assessment.
• contamination of India’s diverse brinjal varieties.
• ban on genetically modifying those crops for which India is a centre of origin or diversity. Brinjal happens to be such a crop.

Nutrition issues

• Many health researchers and professionals, and scientists such as immunologist have argued that
• Bt brinjal poses risks to human health.

Government’s stand

• Bt brinjal found no support from State governments.
• West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar opposed the release pending rigorous, extensive testing.
• Committees expressed grave concerns about lapses in the regulatory system.
• “a thorough probe by a team of eminent independent scientists and environmentalists”
• Committees endorsed labelling GM foods to protect a consumer’s right to know.

No scientific consensus 

• Pests have developed resistance to Bt cotton
• A GM-based strategy of pest control is unsustainable
• Organic and zero budget natural farming, which do not allow GM seeds, are gaining ground

Way Forward

• The government
• Must detail the steps it has taken since 2010 to address the scientific lacunae.
• Clarify precisely how Bt brinjal will benefit farmers
• Bt brinjal runs counter to the framework devised by parliamentary panels and the government’s own task forces and expert committees.

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