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Experts oppose clearance to Monsanto's genetically-modified cotton

Biosafety experts and environmentalists have opposed the government's approval for the cultivation and commercialisation of Monsanto's controversial genetically-modified, or GM, cotton in the country and demanded a probe into what they termed as ''fixing in science''.

''It is strange that the approval granted by the Department of Biotechnology, or DBT, should come at a time when Europe has imposed a three-year moratorium on the commercialisation of GM crops," said experts at the Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security.

"Farmers and angry activists have uprooted GM crops in several countries, saying that transgenic technology needs to be thoroughly tested before being made available to consumers,'' they said.

The approval to GM cotton was granted last week on the advice of the Review Committee for Genetic Manipulation, or RCGM. The committee is believed to have granted clearance to the controversial transgenic crop variety after the Maharashtra Hybrid Corporation, or MAHYCO, partly owned by multinational seed giant Monsanto, made a presentation on the basis of data collected from research trials at 60 locations.

The government's clearance to GM cotton has opened floodgates for cultivation and marketing of more genetically-modified variety of crops in India. Another GM variety of mustard containing gene from Genetic System of Belgium, another transnational company, is in the pipeline, critics said.

The Monsanto GM cotton called Bollgaurd contains an alien gene from bacteria known as bacillus thuringiensis that protects the plant from A Lepidoptora, a major pest of cotton.

The growing of bacillus thuringiensis cotton would help farmers save money they currently spend on chemical pesticides. This is how Monsanto argues in favour of its GM variety.

The DBT's ''hasty decision'' has left many questions unanswered, thereby clearly indicating that there is more to it than what meets the eye, said forum president Devinder Sharma.

''How can the DBT rely only on the data presented by the company whose interest is in pushing the technology? Why wasn't the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, or ICAR, the apex organisation controlling 29 agriculture universities and 81 national institutes asked to test the veracity of claims made by MAHYCO?''

The critics said while the presentation was made on April 4, how could the DBT justify the excitement it has expressed time and again in the past two years at the prospect of introducing the Bollguard cotton (containing the bacillus thuringiensis gene) in the near future?

Information available with the forum shows that agriculture scientists were not keen to examine the data being presented by MAHYCO-Monsanto for the simple reason that the crop was sown late by approximately two months last year after the normal sowing time for cotton, Sharma said.

''Still the DBT finds that the productivity of cotton increases by 25 to 50 per cent. Is it not like the Board of Control for Cricket in India, or BCCI, defending cricketers after ''match-fixing'' allegations had been made repeatedly,'' he added.

The critics questioned why the department was not keen to make the data public and why it has not taken the civil society groups into confidence.

Tracing the history, they alleged that the DBT had been known to function in an ''unscientific manner'' that forced eminent biotechnologist V L Chopra, a former director general of the ICAR, to quit the apex decision-making body.

Equally worrisome is the fact, the critics said, was that bacillus thuringiensis cotton also contained a gene for herbicide-resistance. Cotton growers will have to spray their GM crops with 'round up-ready' herbicide, a chemical that has now been found to be carcinogenic.

Since it has to be sprayed intensively, its residues in soyabean, for instance, have been found to be about 200-times more than in the normally cultivated beans.

Besides, inhaling the bacillus thuringiensis gene is also a health hazard. Given the admission of the Food and Drug Administration of the US that it operates under a directive to foster the interests of the American biotech industry, it is crucial to probe the role of the DBT in promoting a ''controversial and untested technology'' in India.

By this, not only has the DBT put the country at risk in perpetuating genetic pollution, it has also become a part of its agenda to promote the international biotech industry.

Approving technologies without a foolproof environmental impact assessment is no less than a crime against humanity, says Sharma.

UNI

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