Permissions to GM crops under pressure of foreign powers can cause huge damage to agriculture, environment, health

On October 18, 2022, a committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) has once again recommended the introduction of DMH-11, a variety of GM Mustard. Earlier, in May 2017 also GEAC had given its green signal to the same

variety.

But due to intense opposition from farmers and scientists, the government did not approve the recommendations of GEAC. It is being said that this variety has been developed by Prof Deepak Pental and is completely ‘Swadeshi’. It is also being claimed that this GM Mustard will give 26 per cent more yield. It is also being said that the production of edible oils in the country is extremely deficient, due to which the country is losing valuable foreign exchange in imports of edible oil. It is also being claimed that GM Mustard is safe for consumers, farmers and the environment.

But the falsehood of these claims is becoming clear from the fact that GEAC itself has imposed certain conditions while allowing GM Mustard. Thus, GEAC appears not to be convinced about the safety of this seed. There is no proof, whatsoever, about the safety of GM Mustard; and they want to avoid the responsibility of side effects by imposing conditions, that in future they can say that we allowed GM Mustard only with certain conditions and since those conditions were not followed, they are not at fault.

There is no truth in GEAC’s claim that DMH-11 is an indigenous discovery. In 2002, Proagro Seed Company (Bayer’s subsidiary), applied for commercial approval for a similar construct that Prof. Pental and his team are now promoting as HT mustard DMH-11. Bayer’s application at that point of time was turned down because the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) said that their field trials did not give evidence of superior yield.

As is well known the hybridisation of GM Mustard is achieved by means of the two genes barnase and barstar, derived from a soil bacterium called Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. The bar-barstar-barnase gene is a patented technology of Bayer Crop Science, and Bayer is not a swadeshi Company. This fact has been hidden and in future the Bayer company can demand payment in lieu of its intellectual property rights and the farmer of India will have to pay through his nose.

It is noteworthy that GEAC’s claim of higher productivity about DMH-11 is not true as India’s Mustard and Rapeseed Research Institute says that there are already varieties developed in the country, with at least 25 per cent higher yield than DMH-11. Need of the hour is that the government should promote these indigenous hybrid non-GM varieties.

It is worth noting that while testing the DMH-11, no test was conducted about its herbicide tolerance. When alert citizens and experts exposed this misdeed of GEAC, the committee imposed a condition that under no situation, any herbicide will be used by the farmers. Now since this variety is herbicide tolerant, naturally no government agency can stop the farmers from using herbicides, when herbicides are available in the free market. A parallel example in this regard is in front of us that although the herbicide named glyphosate can be used only in tea gardens and non-crop areas. But it is sold indiscriminately across the country and its total sales in India are more than Rs 1,200 crore. Understandably, this act of GEAC is indeed immoral.

Significantly, the world is grappling with ill-effects of different types of herbicides. Due to these herbicides, cancer is increasing like a pandemic in USA and other countries, where such varieties are being used, and the litigation against the manufacturers of these herbicides is also increasing continuously. It is worth noting that only in the USA, 1.40 lakh cases have been filed by cancer victims against Boyer, the company that makes Glyphosate / Roundup.

The worst part is that after the introduction of GM in food items in the country, there can be a huge adverse effect on the food exports. Till now GM is not allowed in food items in our country. All the food items produced in the country are non-GM. This non-GM tag in the country’s food exports enhances the acceptability of our food products in many countries including Europe.

Significantly, today India exports food items worth $50 billion. The country cannot afford to disrupt these exports. Permissions granted to GM crops under the pressure of foreign powers can cause huge damage to agriculture, environment, health and exports. In such a situation, it is the responsibility of the government to protect the interest of the country by bypassing the recommendations of GEAC in this matter.

(The author is a Professor, Department of Economics, PGDAV College, University of Delhi)