TO B(t) OR NOT TO B(t)

Gigantic, greedy and powerful multinational companies are using muscle and media power to push through genetically modified food products, backed by parasitic lobbies in India peddling unscientific evidence. Will Jairam Ramesh succumb to this profit cartel?

Shaweta Anand Delhi

Those opposed to GM-food may be happy to see how Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh stopped Bt brinjal's commercial release after public consultations. However, the way the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) draft bill is taking shape, with its draconian clauses to thwart any anti-GM voices, it wouldn't be too surprising if we are found chewing Bt vegetables in the near future, without even knowing it! Quite like the civilian nuclear deal with the United States that went through all kinds of legislative and political convulsions before it was passed in Parliament, the clearance of Bt brinjal is expected to test similar frontiers of Indo-US strategic partnership - this time in the realm of agriculture.

Despite the minister's assurance that the period of six months would be used for getting scientific opinion and a better appreciation of this ticklish issue, there are core issues that must be dealt with before the country faces the same challenge again - to B(t) or not to B(t)?

Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a toxic, soil-based bacteria, which is being genetically engineered into food crops so that they can ward off pest-attacks 'most effectively' as the new toxin-laden plant will kill any pest that dares to feast on it for breakfast. Indeed, US-based agri-giant - Monsanto - has grown from being a chemical company into one of the highest money spinners through transgenic technology, that is, the technology of transferring genes from one kind of organism to another, across different species.

Farm animals (in the US) are largely fed Bt corn and Bt soya and roughly 70-80 per cent of what humans consume has derivatives of the same processed GM-food. "Even though it does not establish a cause and effect relationship, it gives prima facie evidence that there could be a causal relationship between rising consumption of GM-food and rising gastrointestinal disorders as curves for both these observations overlap," says Dr Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, scientist and Supreme Court-appointed nominee to observe functioning of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), ministry of environment and forests. He was speaking at a colloquium on Bt brinjal in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in January, 2010. He was interviewed by Hardnews later.

In his book called First the Seed, Jack Ralph Kloppenburg Jr, of the University of Wisconsin, writes: "Both transnational and the 'genetic research boutiques' are gearing to enter a market for seed that is projected to be $7 billion dollars in US alone by the year 2000." In a 2008 article titled Monsanto's Rich Harvest in the Business Week, author Brain Hindo says: "The company's first-quarter earnings nearly tripled, from $90 million to $256 million...  Sales for the period rose 36 per cent to $2.1 billion." This can give a fair idea about how fast this industry is growing.