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India fights over a Baingan,
informed activism defeats MNCs’ designs
WSN Bureau
 New Delhi: For
weeks and months, India discussed Brinjals. The eggplant was at the
centre of a discussion that many social and civil society activists
had termed as the most important battle after Independence as it
concerned with whether the food that Indians ate will be controlled
by foreign multi-nationals or Indians.
On Tuesday, the
bitterly fought battle was won by civil society activists and
scietists opposing the introduction of genetically-modified food in
Indian agriculture.
Punjab was among
the states taht had seen strong sentiments against Bt Brinjal even
though the Akali Dal-BJP government of Punjab refused to take any
stand and merely said it will go by whatever the Centre would clear.
In stark
contrast, a large number of states in the production of Baingan
(Brinjal) said a clear, unequivocal NO to Bt Brinjal. Among these
were
Bihar,
West
Bengal,
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, even Himachal Pradesh.
After days of
ugly protests and many public hearings by Environment Minister
Jairam Ramesh, the decision finally hit the scientific community on
Tuesday evening with the government citing a lack of scientific
consensus and the absence of any “over-riding urgency” and
announcing an indefinite “moratorium” on the introduction of a
genetically-modified brinjal.
Even though the
Bt variety was cleared by
India’s
apex technical committee three months ago, it was revealed by many
senior scientists that the process was rigged throughout and the
ones who had real say were Monsanto and other MNCs.
Jairam Ramesh
questioned the logic of letting private companies drive
biotechnology research in agriculture. The brinjal in question has
been developed by Mahyco — a private firm in which global seed major
Monsanto holds a 26% stake — in collaboration with two Indian
agricultural universities.
“We cannot
depend on private sector to drive the biotechnology research in our
agriculture sector. I think research in seeds is as strategic as
space or nuclear research. I am therefore a firm believer in the
strong involvement of public sector research in agriculture sector,”
Ramesh told reporters.
“India’s first
green revolution was not powered by the private sector. And there is
no reason to believe that the second green revolution would be
driven by private companies,” he said.
 While people of
the stature of Dr Pushpa Bhargava, the man who coined the term
"genetic engineering" and is the father of cellular and molecular
biology in India, have been strongly opposing the introduction of Bt
varieties in Indian food chain, there are a few scientists on the
other side opf the fence too. Among these was Y K Alagh,
agriculture expert and a former member of the Planning Commission
who asked if the minister was asking "for a reversal of the policy
on public-private research in agriculture prevalent for the last
several years?" Alagh described the government’s decision on Bt
brinjal as “unfortunate”.
Ramesh argued
that there was no “clear consensus” in the scientific community over
the safety of the crop, that many state governments had strongly
opposed its introduction, that public sentiment was overwhelmingly
negative, and that there was “no over-riding urgency” to introduce
it in the country.
“It is my duty
to adopt a cautious, precautionary principle-based approach and
impose a moratorium on the release of Bt brinjal, till such time as
independent scientific studies establish, to the satisfaction of
both the public and professionals, the safety of the product from
the point of view of its long-term impact on human health and
environment, including the rich genetic wealth existing in brinjal
in our country,” Ramesh said.
“By taking this
decision, the government is being responsible to science and
responsive to society,” he added.
The decision,
announced a day ahead of schedule, came after a month of
often-acrimonious debate in emotionally-charged public meetings in
seven cities. The public meetings were organized by Ramesh after the
Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), the technical body
authorized to clear GM crops for use, gave its approval to the Bt
brinjal in October last year, but left it to the government to take
the final call in view of the “very important policy implication at
the national level”.
If cleared, Bt
brinjal would have become the first genetically-modified vegetable
to be grown anywhere in the world. In
India,
the only GM crop allowed to be cultivated is Bt cotton which was
cleared by the GEAC in 2002, without referring it to the government.
But Ramesh has now renamed the GEAC, replacing Approval with
Appraisal, to underscore the fact that, henceforth, decisions of the
committee would not be considered final. Ramesh also sought to make
a distinction between Bt cotton and Bt brinjal on the grounds that
the former was not a food crop.
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The civil society opposition
in Punjab was strong
In Punjab, the
Bt Brinjal clearance move attracted strong opposition with
hundreds of students and professors from Punjab University
coming together. The Panjab University campus saw many marching
with placards that read ‘Stop Bt brinjal’, while others marched
in funeral processions for Bt brinjal in town squares and
villages. Their message was ‘Kill Bt brinjal, before it kills
us”.
Protests also
marked the public consultation on Bt brinjal that was held in
Chandigarh on the 29th January as part of the series of 7 public
consultations Ramesh chaired.
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What is Bt Brinjal and why
the opposition?
Bt brinjal has
been produced by inserting a toxin gene, Cry1Ac, from a soil
bacterium called Bacillus thuringenesis [Bt] into brinjal plant
using the technique of genetic engineering. Bt brinjal has been
developed by Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company Ltd [Mahyco], and
the producers claim that by producing the toxin the plant will
be able to kill the major insect pest in Brinjal, the Fruit and
Shoot Borer. Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), the
regulatory body approved the crop on the basis of the safety
test data presented by Mahyco.
However, there
is no long term feeding studies to prove the safety of this
crop. Independent experts including Supreme Court nominee in
GEAC, Dr. Pushpa Bhargava has pointed out that there are several
short comings in the tests conducted by the company. The stiff
resistance from different sections of the society following the
approval forced the Government to conduct public consultations
before taking a final decision.
The Public
consultations at Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad and Nagpur saw
scientists, farmers and consumers rejecting Bt brinjal. Besides
this, eight Indian states – Orissa, West Bengal, Kerala,
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and
Karnataka stated clearly that they would not permit Bt brinjal
in their states.
Dr. Manjit
Singh of the University said that “Introducing these foods will
not only be an attack on human health, but on the entire
civilization, environment and ecological diversity we are gifted
with.” He emphatically stated that we must fight this in the
spirit of a war.
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10
February 2010
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