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Written by Truth About Trade & Technology
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Tuesday, 27 October 2009 19:28 |
The Financial Express
October 25, 2009
The Financial Express
P Murugesa Boopathi
Posted online: Oct 25, 2009 at 2346 hrs
www.financialexpress.com
We are in a mission to increase the food production to meet the demands of our ever-growing population. We need to achieve this with the shrinking area under arable lands. These necessitate immediate focus on the problem of increasing the food production by resorting to modern technologies. Transgenic technology has been proven to be safe and secure globally and is recognised as one of the tools of crop improvement.
Genetically Modified (GM) plants possess a gene or genes that have been transferred from a different species either it be another plant or an animal or a microbe. The term GM plants refers to plants produced in a laboratory using recombinant DNA technology to create plants with specific characteristics by artificial insertion of genes.
GM crops, except for the GM trait, are not any different from the high-yielding varieties or hybrids popularly cultivated by the farmers. Keeping in mind the popularity of certain genetic backgrounds (varieties/hybrids), the GM traits (such as the one which is used in Bt brinjal viz., a crystal protein gene which is capable of producing an insecticidal protein) are introduced into these local popular genetic backgrounds. GM crops deliver substantial agronomic, environmental, economic, health and social benefits to farmers and, increasingly, to society at large. The rapid adoption of GM crops globally between 1996 (when the first GM crop was cultivated) and 2009, reflects the substantial multiple benefits realised by farmers in industrial and developing countries that have grown GM crops commercially.
The most compelling case for biotechnology, and more specifically GM crops, are their capability to contribute to increasing crop productivity, and thus contribute to global food, feed and fibre security, with benefits for producers, consumers and society; more efficient use of external inputs, thereby contributing to a safer environment and more sustainable agricultural systems; increasing stability of productivity and production to lessen suffering due to abiotic and biotic stresses; and thus providing significant and important multiple benefits to farmers, consumers and global society.
Transgenic crops were cultivated in different countries including a few European Union countries covering an area of 125 mn hectares during 2008. In India, Bt cotton was grown by approximately five mn farmers covering 7.6 mn hectares encompassing 82% of the total cotton cultivation. The increasing acreage under Bt cotton over years indicate a rapid and successful adoption of the GM technology. As a result, there has been a quantum jump in cotton production leading to increased export and in turn, increased economic returns to the farming community.
Bt cotton was developed by introducing a single bacterial gene which encodes a crystal protein into the cotton plant. Consequent to expression of the introduced gene (transgene), the Bt cotton acquires the capability to resist the boll worm from attacking the bolls. Only after a thorough assessment of the crop for biosafety and yield performance, the Central Government had then approved the field release of the crop. Appreciably, there had been a drastic reduction in the quantum usage of the insecticides deployed against bollworms. As a result, the cost of cultivation had come down making cotton cultivation more profitable to the farmers. This has largely contributed to rapid spread of the Bt cotton cultivation across India since its introduction in 2002.
Coincidental with the steep increase in adoption of Bt cotton between 2002 and 2008, the average yield of cotton in India, which had one of the lowest yields in the world, increased from 308 kg per hectare in 2001-02, to 560 kg per hectare in 2007-08 and projected to increase to 591 kg per hectare in 2008-09 season, with 50% or more of the increase in yield, attributed to Bt cotton. With the boom in cotton production in the last seven years, India has become transformed from a net importer to a net exporter of cotton. Exports of cotton have registered a sharp increase from a meagre 0.05 million bales in 2001-02 to 5.5 mn bales in 2006-07 to 8.5 mn bales in 2007-08.
Besides Bt cotton, herbicide tolerant soybean, herbicide tolerant maize, herbicide tolerant cotton, insect tolerant Bt maize, viral resistant papaya are being cultivated widely in different parts of the world for more than a decade. The spread of the above crops by its acreage is largely because of the profitable cropping which is possible only due to the technology backing it.
Brinjal crop is seriously attacked by fruit and shoot borers (FSB) which results in yield losses to tune of up to 70%. To protect the fruits, farmers often times resort to extensive spraying only to achieve a little success as the biology of the borer infestation prevent an accomplishment of total control through insecticide applications. Besides, there is a serious environmental concern as a result of the pesticide residues ending up in food chain and also getting leached into the water bodies. Bt brinjal, which has got built-in resistance to FSB and requires a very few insecticidal sprays (targeting other pests of brinjal than FSB), is considered a more eco- friendly technology. Unlike conventionally bred crop varieties, cultivation of GM crop varieties is regulated in India as per the provision in the “Rules for the manufacture, use/import/export and storage of hazardous microorganisms/genetically engineered organisms or cells, 1989”notified by the Ministry of “Environment & Forests, Government of India under Environmental Protection Act (1986)”. The products derived from recombinant technology including GM crops are regulated by the Central Government agencies such as Review committee on Genetic Manipulation (RCGM), functioning under the Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), under the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Before GM crops are approved for commercial cultivation, they are subjected to a number of biosafety tests. The objective of these biosafety studies is to demonstrate the safety of the GM crop to the environment, humans and animals. Only after these tests prove that the GM crops are safe, the Government of India will approve them for commercialisation. The results of these tests are thoroughly reviewed by the RCGM and GEAC before decisions are made. These committees comprise experts from various fields of biology and senior officials from different ministries such as agriculture, environment and forests, health etc.
However, anti-GM activists claim that the Bt technology is not safe for human consumption. According to them, Bt causes toxicity and allergenicity and they try to exert tremendous amount of pressure on the government to stall the introduction of GM crops for commercial cultivation.
Bt microbial products have a long history of safe use and no adverse human health problem have been reported since they were put into use about forty years ago. Even now organic agricultural practices make use of Bt microbial products for controlling pests. Nevertheless, a number of biosafety studies such as toxicity and allergenicity studies are conducted to demonstrate the safety of any GM crop before it is approved. In vitro digestion assays are used to confirm degradation characteristics of Bt proteins, whereas animal feeding studies are used to assess acute oral toxicity. Data on toxicity and allergenicity studies on Bt cotton, maize and tomato have been critically reviewed by the regulatory authorities in several countries including US, Canada, Japan, U.K., European Union and Russia. Similarly, studies allergenicity of Bt proteins demonstrated that the Bt protein is safe and does not cause food allergy.
Adoption of new technologies is the order of the day irrespective of the fields. One cannot forget the opposition to Green Revolution during 1960s. Had India not adopted the Green Revolution technologies, the country would not have achieved self sufficiency in food production. Upon adoption of Green Revolution, we witnessed an increased food production to the extent of exporting our surplus.
Bt brinjal is certainly a boon to brinjal farmers particularly small and marginal ones. TNAU versions of Bt brinjal in four genetic backgrounds namely, Co2 Bt, MDU1 Bt, KKM1 Bt and PLR1 Bt are in the pipeline. Unlike hybrids, seeds of these varieties can be saved by the farmer for future sowings. The consumers also stand to benefit as it offers agricultural produce free from pesticide residues. We believe that the success story of cotton will repeat in Bt brinjal as well.
—The writer is Vice-Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore.
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Genetically-speaking/532812/#
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