The Net Loser is the Farmer

Context: Farmer is the net loser who is needlessly denied the benefits of the highly useful Genetically Modified (GM) crops and the various hurdles that it has faced in its roll-out. 

About Bt-Brinjal

• Under Testing: Janak and BSS-793 varieties were recently approved for field testing by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).
• Pest-resistance: 

• They contain an insect-killer gene Cry1Fa1 (event 142), derived from the soil-dwelling bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt).

• The proteins produced by this gene in the digestive system of pests prove lethal for the shoot and fruit borers

About Bt-cotton 

• The only allowed transgenic crop in India till now.
• Triggered the cotton revolution: a massive increase in cotton output
• Losing the success story: new strains are not available to replace the Bt-cotton hybrids that are becoming ineffective

Issues in GM framework

• Lengthy procedure

• Separate state-wise approval: separate no-objection certificates and confirmation of land availability from each state where a trial is being conducted
• The names of scientists conducting these trials have to be communicated to the GEAC

• The results of the tests to be shared with state biodiversity boards and panchayat biodiversity management committees

• Lack of expertise

• The panchayat-level biodiversity panels lack the expertise to peer-review the findings of these scientific exercises.

• Policy uncertainties: 

• After the results for Bt-brinjal were approved by the GEAC after going through numerous tests, Mahyco was debarred from commercialization under pressure from anti-GM lobbyists.

Arguments favouring the use of GM crops 

• No evidence of negative impact: For E. g Bt cotton seeds are regularly fed to the livestock, whose milk is consumed by everybody.

• Wide prevalence: The Bt gene is already a part of the human food chain and the environment as the illegally cultivated Bt-brinjal, and Bt-mustard produce is getting mixed with non-GM products.

• Favoured by the evidence-based opinion of the scientific community: 

• Recently some 109 Nobel laureates had issued a joint statement in 2016, asking the anti-biotechnology lobby to stop bashing GM foods on “emotional, dogmatic and unfounded grounds”.

• Positive experiences of other countries: 

• GM foods and feed are being produced and consumed in many countries for a long enough time — since 1995 — to show the ill-effects by now
• GM brinjal, being cultivated in Bangladesh, is performing well there without hurting the environment or human health.
• Approval by Parliamentary Standing Committee: on Science and Environment, in the panel’s report “Genetically modified crops and their impact on the environment” n 2017.

Conclusion: There is a need for restructuring the biotechnology regulatory framework for an unbiased assessment of GM crops.