Stay with science, go slow on GM crops Transgenic technology

Source: The post is based on the article “Stay with science, go slow on GM crops Transgenic technology” published in The Indian Express on 22nd December 2022. 

Syllabus: GS3- Science and Technology 

Relevance: Recombinant technology.

News: The article explains the issues related to HT GM crops. 

Why precaution is required for the environmental release of GM crops? 

Transgenic technology is uncontrollable and irreversible after environmental release. Genetically Modified Organisms propagate themselves and proliferate. This process cannot be reversed.  

Therefore, any deliberate environmental release has to be only after a thorough, independent, peer-reviewed assessment of long-term implications.  

What is the current status of GM crops across the world? 

More than 25 years after their introduction, GM crops are still globally grown in just 29 out of 172 countries. Moreover, 91% of GM crop area continues to be in just five countries named USA, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, and India.  

Most countries in Europe and Japan, Israel, and Russia do not grow GM crops. In China, Bt cotton area has been declining and non-GM hybrid technology is used for rapeseed/mustard. 

Only two traits are present in over 85% of GM crops grown — herbicide tolerance and insect resistance.  

What are the issues with HT crops? 

HT crops result in not only ecological damage but human health impacts for consumers. Like tobacco, the effects take a longer time to manifest.  

According to independent research on GM crops and associated herbicides, their impact on human health may be probable carcinogenicity, neuro-toxicity, reproductive health problems, organ damage etc. 

The ongoing litigations in the Supreme Court are about serious shortcomings in our regulatory regime. Minutes of meetings of the regulatory body GEAC and the “guidelines and protocols” on the regulator’s website reflect an absence of regulatory protocols for HT crops. 

The technical expert committee appointed by the SC and the unanimous multi-party reports of two parliamentary standing committees have exposed serious lapses and inadequacies in bio-safety testing of HT crops.  

What are the concerns associated with the approval of GM mustard? 

GM mustard’s yield increase claims were based on a comparison with an old, non-hybrid variety. There were several higher-yielding mustard hybrids that should have been the comparators. 

Now, it is claimed that DMH-11’s parental lines will be very useful for breeding better hybrids. But, the countries with the highest yields in the world do not use this GM HT technique. The benefits claimed, hence, are therefore questionable. 

No independent health expert participated in the committees that looked at GM mustard safety. To this day, biosafety data of GM mustard has not been posted on the regulator’s website for independent scrutiny. 

It is claimed GM mustard is necessary to reduce India’s edible oil import bill. Most of the edible oil we import is cheap, non-GM, palm oil. 

What is the way forward for yield improvement of mustard? 

For mustard yield improvement, safe agro-ecological solutions such as the “system of mustard intensification” are showing significant yield increases. This technology should be promoted, not GM HT mustard of dubious yields and safety.