Should we grow GM crops?: 

Should we grow GM crops?: 

Why Not to Grow GM Crops?

Context:

There are several criticisms associated with GM crops and its commercial production has been one of the most persisting public policy debates in India.

GMO and Environmental Contamination

• GMOs are self- regulating organisms and through gene flow it leads to genetic contamination of the environment
• The genetic contamination of wild species and non- GM crops cannot be reversed or remedied.
• It is argued that the seed stock will get contaminated at the molecular level.
• Environmentalists have argued that the toxicity caused by GM crops will remain in perpetuity

GMO and Health Impacts

•     Effects of GM crops on human health can be unpredictable.
•    The health impacts of GMO only appear in the long run.
•    Glyphosate, that is considered as one of the safest herbicide, has been categorized as “probable carcinogen” by the World Health Organization
•    There has been evidence from Argentina of the horrifying birth defects because of Glyphosate used in herbicide-tolerant (HT) soybeans.

GM Crop Technology: Unsustainable

•  The myth that GM crop technology “will feed the world” is fading rapidly.
• At present GMO comprises just two products, Bt (e.g. Bt cotton) and HT crops (HT mustard)
•  These account for nearly 99% of GMOs planted worldwide.
•  Based on empirical evidences (including India’s Bt cotton), both the products have been proven unsustainable technologies

Going Against Evidence: Problem with regulatory institutions in India

• Regulatory institutions are neither independent nor rigour
• There is serious lack of expertise in risk assessment
• There is lack of transparency in the regulatory processes
•  In India, all the safety tests for regulatory approvals are conducted by the same party that applies for commercialisation of GM crops.
• Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee’s  (GEAC) refusal to publicly release the safety testing data submitted for regulatory approval of BT Brinjal and GM Mustard, until GM opponents filed a Right to Information petition has further worsen the concern over transparency.

Way Ahead

• India should learn lessons from the history of hazardous technologies, DDT, asbestos, etc.
• The traits for disease, saline and drought resistance, yield, etc. are found in nature, not biotech labs.
•  India should maintain its still-rich genetic diversity for the future of its agriculture.

“You cannot insert a gene you took from a bacteria into a seed and call it life. You haven’t created a life, instead you have polluted it”–Vandana Shiva

KNOW ABOUT Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)

• The GEAC is established under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change
• GEAC is the apex body for the approval of activities involving large-scale use of hazardous microorganisms and recombinants

Functions

•  To permit the use of GMOs and products thereof for commercial applications.
• To adopt producers for restriction or prohibition, production, sale, import & use of GMOs both for research and applications under Environmental Protect Act (EPA).
•  To approve for conduct of large scale field trials, evaluation of large scale field trial data and final approval for release of transgenic crop into the environment.
• To authorize large scale production and release of GMOs and products thereof into the environment.
•  To authorize agencies or persons to have powers to take punitive actions under the EPA.