Farmer Groups Protest India’s First Genetically Modified Food Crop

Farmers’ organizations and environmental groups are fighting the approval of what would be India’s first genetically modified food crop, questioning the possible long-term effects on human health and ecology. The nation’s biotechnology regulator and the government’s Genetic Engineering Approval Committee recently concluded that a genetically modified strain of eggplant called Bt brinjal is safe for human consumption, a decision that could clear the way for more GM crops in the populous nation grappling with food shortages. The strain is named for bacillus thuringiensis — a soil bacterium that creates a toxin that kills a type of moth known to destroy the fruit and stem of the brinjal eggplant. The genetically modified Bt brinjal is engineered to be resistant to the disease. Final approval rests with Jairam Ramesh, the nation’s environmental minister. Several groups are pushing for Ramesh to reject the GM crop, citing concerns about possible adverse health effects, including traces of toxicity found in animals injected with the bacterium. “We do not need GM foods in India — not now, not 20 years later,” said Puspha Bhargava, a senior biotechnologist and dissenting member on the approval committee. The genetically modified eggplant was developed by the American agrochemical giant Monsanto, which has already introduced genetically modified cotton to India.