Bangalore, Feb 18, 2010: The Genetically modified crops have been a issue of hot debate for almost 25 years. There have been arguments supporting and opposing their introduction. However, as the decrease in production of some vital crops and the increasing population has added to the woes of common people, the introduction of GM Foods is expected to become a necessity in the long run.

Although India has been successful in introduction of Bt Cotton and other biotech crops being trialled, Bt Brinjal would have been the first commercialized edible biotech crop in India, requiring significantly less insecticides and capable of contributing to the alleviation of poverty of 1.4 million small, resource-poor farmers who grow Brinjal in India.

However, the recent decision of Environment & Forest Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh to go for further trials upto 2 years has raised many questions on the earlier approval of Bt Brinjal by the Genetic Engineering Approval committee (GEAC). The minister arrived on this decision after consultations conducted by the Ministry of Environment & Forestry throughout the nation to hear the views of NGO's and farmers. But the decision has shattered the hopes of those who were expecting the first genetically modified vegetable crop in India.

Regulating the GM Crops:

In India, the ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) and Department Of Biotechnology (DBT), which comes under the Ministry of Science & Technology coordinate the implementation of various provisions of the EPA rules 1989 which are assigned to relevant ministries, state governments and public sector institutions. The competent authorities under the Rules 1989 have framed guidelines, protocols, procedures for evaluating biosafety, toxicity,allergenecity, field trials, food and feed safety, production processes, large scale use of genetically modified organism (GMO's) and products thereof and their release into the environment.

Indian Regulatory system includes the provision of revision and improvement of regulatory guidelines from time to time, periodic revision of biosafety and food safety guidelines and also field trial protocols to ensure fool proof system. Besides that ICAR functions as a parallel system to check and validate data submitted by the technology developers.

Government Perspective on the issue :

The Government especially the Department of Biotechnology has been very supportive on the GM Crops. Although the Bt Brinjal has been withheld for the time being by the Environment & Forest Ministry, the overall views have been in support of GM Crops.

Dr S.R Rao, Director, DBT at a conference said, “The department is also considering setting up a Agri-Biotech Policy Unit in collaboration with all stakeholders. The year 2010 would be the year for investment in communication and awareness campaigns on the benefits of Biotechnology”

Earlier even the Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh had told the Rajya Sabha that the Bt Brinjal event EE-1 has been developed in compliance with the prevailing regulatory procedures and biosafety guidelines which conform to the international norms.

But after holding the nationwide consultations he decided to put the Bt Brinjal through more tests for next two years. The Minister’s decision comes after a month of public consultations in seven cities, which were attended by approximately 8,000 people. They were organised after widespread protests against the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee’s (GEAC) recommendation of approval of Bt Brinjal in October 2009.

Mr. Ramesh attributed the decision to several factors: the lack of clear consensus among the scientific community; opposition from 10 State governments, especially from the major Brinjal-producing States; questions raised about the safety and testing process; the lack of an independent biotechnology regulatory authority; negative public sentiment and fears among consumers and the lack of a global precedent.

Mr. Ramesh said the moratorium period would be used to commission fresh scientific studies and reform the testing process. “If you need long term toxicity tests, then you must do it, no matter how long it takes…There is no hurry. There is no overriding urgency or food security argument for [release of] Bt Brinjal,” he said. “Our objective is to restore public confidence and trust in the Bt Brinjal product. If it cannot be done, so be it.”

After this development, in a recent interview, Mr Prithviraj Chavan, Science & Technology Minister said, “ The GM crops cannot be kept under the wraps for long. He said, “ I am not opposed to the tests but at the same time he doesn't think that it would require 2 years. The tests have been done for nine years and I think scientists have done a thorough job.”

The agriculture minister Mr Sharad Pawar also recently said that GM crops are a necessity and we will have to adopt them sooner or later to meet our feeding needs. He however maintained that his ministry respects the decision of Environment ministry on Bt Brinjal.

The 99^th meeting of GEAC on 17^th Feb, the first meeting after the Bt Brinjal moratorium, reviewed the Environment Ministry’s decision, which overturned its own recommendation in favour of the transgenic vegetable. As reported in The Hindu, according to some members, the entire meeting was spent in discussing the ministry's decision on the bt Brinjal but no decisions were taken on any future reforms of the GEAC.

Anti GM Views:

The Greenpeace and GM Free India, are known for their anti GM crop views and therefore have upped their ante after the approval of Bt Brinjal by GEAC. Also the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi based Public interest organization, has said that the government should not clear any genetically modified food crop till the time India has strict provisions for labeling.

It has come as a surprise to many that the eminent scientists like Dr M.S Swaminathan and Dr P.M Bhargava, have been critical of the GEAC approval and suggested more tests before the final release. However this may be understood as they are related to the Bt Brinjal only, but it seems that some of the NGO's have decided to oppose everything related to GM crops which does not make any sense and is not a good sign for the agribiotech sector in the country.

Keeping fingers crossed :
India’s first Bt crop, Bt cotton has acquitted itself with resounding success that more than 80% of cotton grown in the country is Bt cotton, and helped boost India’s cotton production two fold.

In case of Bt Brinjal, despite opposition from some anti GM activists and environmentalists, it is the almost common opinion of the scientific community that Bt Brinjal is biologically safe, and causes no undue harm to the agricultural environment of the country. The argument in its favour is that the Bt Brinjal's safety record stands testimony to best possible international scientific standards as attested by more than 150 scientists of the country involved in reviewing its safety data for over 6 years. Actually the Bt gene in Bt Brinjal, Cry1Ac is the same gene that is in the Bt cotton in India.

According to Dr S. Shantharam, Princeton University, “there is a regulatory and scientific consensus on the issue of GM crops and have been considered safe. The regulatory authorities such as WHO, UNAP,UNEDO,NSA, FAO of different countries have attended the issues and there has been not a single proven instance of any harm done to animals tested.”

While considering the fears expressed against the GM crops as imaginary, he said, “ It is a political movement against the technology without any scientific basis.” The time has come that there should be an open discussion on the issue.”, he added. While allaying the fears of anti GM brigade, he said, “ to prove the negative is impossible and one can move from known to unknown but not from unknown to unknown.”

“Regulatory burden on biotech development has become unaffordable for both private and public sector with the result that indigenous technological development will be severely hampered in the developing countries. Biotechnology regulatory policies must be strictly based on the scientific assessment of risk and not on any sloganeering and campaigning by public interest groups” added Dr Shantharam.

Now as the withholding of the Bt Brinjal has given the shot in the arm to the anti GM lobby, this at the same time has raised many questions on the credibility of approval committees. Although the scientific testings and data provided by the commitees fullfill all the conditions, the govt. control over them has been very often raised as a fact to support their arguments by antiGM lobby.

Especially after the hot debate on the Bt Brinjal topic and caught between the supporters and those opposing it, this surely is like walking on a tightrope for the Govt. However, the time is ripe for the govt. to take an early and firm decision on the independent body regulating the approvals pertaining to the biotechnology sector in general and agribiotech sectror in particular. Infact, this tightrope walk test for the govt. will have to end somewhere to make available the benefits of years of research which can lead to much needed second green revolution in due course of time.