The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : A word of caution on GM technology

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 30, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

A word of caution on GM technology

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUPATI, MARCH 29. The conference on "Updates of microbes in environment" conducted by the SPMVV's Department of Applied Microbiology on Tuesday dwelt on the need to be cautious while using Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), since a lot of ethical issues were at stake.

In his keynote address on "GMO in agriculture and environment", P. Gunasekaran of Madurai Kamaraj University's molecular biology department said the technology could be of great use in feeding the 800 million people (18 per cent of the population in developing countries) who could not get sufficient food, more so when the world population is expected to touch eight billion by 2030, an increase of over two billion compared to today.

Different uses

The GMOs could be used in plant breeding, weed management and insect control in agriculture. In health management and even as a food, he said, it could be put into proper use, referring to the `Flavr Savr' tomato, the first approved GMO food, which could last for ten days.

Rice was also genetically engineered to contain pro-vitamin A (beta carotene) and iron, which could improve the health of many low-income communities.

Plants are now used to produce antibodies to treat diseases, he said, citing the production of GM plants like potato and bananas to produce immune responses, to explain the potential in delivering medicines through agriculture.

Monsanto issue

Regarding Monsanto's GM grain, Prof. Gunasekaran said the crop gave an improved yield but as it was sterile, the farmers had to run to the same supplier again, instead of retaining seeds for the next season. Some GM food crops also cause allergic or toxic reactions in humans.

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