The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : Transgenic muddle

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 31, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - Leader Page Articles

Transgenic muddle

By Meena Menon

The focus must be less on biotechnology and more on cheaper and simpler ways of growing crops.

WITH THE recent approval of a fourth variety of Bt cotton for cultivation, the Government has once again endorsed biotechnology as a magic solution for farmers' woes. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), the regulatory authority, has also approved field trials for 12 more varieties of Bt cotton hybrids.

The history of Bt cotton in India is one marked by lack of debate, transparency and controversy. Reports of earlier field trials were never made public and there is litigation in the Supreme Court on this subject. On March 26, 2002, three varieties of Bt cotton were cleared by the GEAC, and initial approval was for three years. In the first year itself there were reports of large-scale failure, which the Government chose to ignore. In fact, the then Environment Minister, T. R. Baalu, told the Rajya Sabha that Bt cotton's performance was satisfactory. However, a few months later in April 2003, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture debunked claims about the efficacy of Bt cotton. It asked the Government to immediately set up an independent team of experts to re-evaluate Bt cotton's economic viability. The Standing Committee, in its report tabled in Parliament, said the new variety seemed to be `only marginally' better than the normally used varieties. It said Bt cotton did not appear to be significantly better, both in terms of productivity and also resistance to the green or American bollworm, which was its unique selling proposition.

All this seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Despite demands for an independent study on the efficacy of Bt cotton, nothing has been done. Instead, all those opposing transgenic crops have been dubbed eco-terrorists or anti-progress. In fact, the GEAC had absolutely no control when thousands of acres of Bt cotton were detected growing in Gujarat in October 2001, even before it was approved. It is with this abysmal lack of regulation and transparency that India is being ushered into the modern biotech era.

The Government's focus on biotechnology is at variance with its stress on organic agriculture in the Tenth Five Year Plan. States are being encouraged to adopt "sustainable agriculture" and reduce the effects of harmful pesticides, which have dominated the agriculture scenario for several decades. Pesticide use in this country is the highest for the cotton crop (over 50 per cent), which occupies only five per cent of the cultivated area. The question is: has Bt cotton made an impact on the amount of pesticides used for cotton and is it viable for the farmer? Farmers continue to use a toxic cocktail of pesticides as the American bollworm is not the only pest cotton is susceptible to.

There seems to be little regulation on biosafety norms as well. The mandatory 20 per cent refuge area around the Bt cotton crop was more the exception than the rule, though the Government is satisfied that it was observed by and large. India, one of the centres of origin for cotton, was famous for its short-stapled varieties, which did not have the green bollworm as a major pest. It is the longer stapled varieties, more suited to mills, which are prone to the green bollworm.

The argument for Bt cotton focusses on the reduced number of pesticide sprays. However, except in data provided by the company, nowhere is this borne out. A study commissioned by Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech, conducted by AC Nielsen ORG- MARG on the use of Bt cotton in five States for the last kharif season, says that Bt cotton farmers increased net profits by 78 per cent. It also found that there was a reduction in pesticides for the green bollworm by 60 per cent. This report has been challenged by parallel studies conducted by independent organisations and scientists. Politicians like Chandrababu Naidu have already paid the price for exhorting farmers to go in for Bt cotton. In Andhra Pradesh, farmers even today continue to commit suicide over crop failures and their inability to repay debts incurred for agriculture. How do transgenic crops solve these basic issues?

If the Government is serious about sustainable farming, then the focus must be less on biotechnology and more on cheaper and simpler ways of growing crops, especially cotton. A first-of-its-kind study by Greenpeace India called "Arrested Development" studied the impact of pesticides on 899 children from six different cotton farming locations in India during April-December 2003.

The report reveals that in areas where pesticide use is rampant, children had lowered mental development that includes analytical abilities, motor abilities, memory and concentration. The locations chosen reported a high use of dangerous pesticides such as organophosphorus, organochlorine, carbamate and synthetic pyrethroids, in addition to "new generation" pesticides such as spinosad and nicotinoid pesticides, all for cotton.

Instead of regulating the pernicious impact of pesticides, which have found their way into the food chain and water, and has impacted the health of an entire population, and possibly future generations as well, the Government is bent on promoting biotechnology. And the latest clearance is just another example of misplaced zeal and priority.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

News Update

Stories in this Section

NARENDRA MODI AS SUPER SCAPEGOAT