Bt brinjal debate on the boil

Mon, May 5 01:00 AM

Can the humble brinjal open the doors to a series of health hazards Indian consumers may never recover from? At least that is what a group of TV and film celebrities, musicians, farmers and activists plan to convey when the gather at the Jantar Mantar on May 6 to protest against the entry of Genetically Modified (GM) brinjal set to hit Indian markets by the end of this year. While the brinjal opens a larger debate on the entry of GM crops into India, the government says the answers to food shortages and low crop yields lie in GM crops and it will not ban tested GM crops.

Trials for Bt Brinjal enter the final round and the vegetable is expected to come out in the market by December or early 2009. "It will be the first GM vegetable in the world.

In the next three years, over a dozen other GM vegetables and crops will flood the Indian markets. It is not possible to segregate these vegetables in a typical Indian vegetable market, so people who want to say no to GM crops, will simply have to boycott vegetables," said Kavita Kuruganti of the Coalition of GM free India that is organising the celebrities' protest to raise awareness against GM foods.

Among the celebrities are Nandita Das, Amala, Milind Soman, Khushboo, Rabbi Shergill and Nafisa Ali. "On May 6, they will boycott the brinjal to spread the message that it will no longer be safe to eat the vegetable," Kurugranti added.

The Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco), the company that is bringing the Brinjal, has mainly sourced the Bt gene for the brinjal from the US major Monsanto that also holds a stake in the Indian company. "India has a strong regulatory system comparable to any developed country.

There should be no concern on that front," said Dr M.K. Sharma, General Manager, Mahyco, Mumbai. Those opposing GM crops say genetically altering a food makes it unsafe for human consumption and tests that are carried out can never predict what might go wrong in the long run.

The debate on the brinjal also opens a window to the larger debate in India on whether India should allow GM foods. The government, however, says it can't disallow GM crops that clear the prescribed tests.

"Nothing is untouchable. Risk-assessed GM crops are good and the government's policy is crystal-clear on this," Dr Mangla Rai, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education, said.

Rai believes that GM crops can increase stagnating yields of food crops and answer the concerns about India's food security. "For problems of the future, we will need the futuristic answers that lie in transgenics," he said.

"The biotech lobby has started saying that the answer to the food crisis is GM foods. But how can you overlook the health aspect?" said Suman Sahai of Gene Campaign.

The campaign cites Australian and American studies that show organ damage in mice that were fed GM grains.

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