UPA Govt. should desist from introducing Bt. Brinjal: SDPI
The Social Democratic of India, (SDPI), is pained to learn the rumblings going on in the country over the genetically modified, (GM), Bt. Brinjal being given go-ahead green signal for commercial cultivation by the Congress-led UPA Government. It is most reprehensible act and should be condemned in most strongest terms from all quarters.
The UPA Government should know that any decision permitting the environmental release and sale of Bt. Brinjal in India is fraught with the most serious, far-reaching and irreversible consequences affecting our land and her inhabitants – human and non-human – for generations to come. With over 50 more GM crops reportedly in the Indian pipeline, we must exercise utmost caution. Once released, these cannot ever be recalled, nor can the chain reactions they unleash be stopped.
The UPA Government is well aware that a broad cross-section of Indian citizens – including outstanding scientists of undisputable integrity, as also large numbers of farmers and consumers – have opposed the sanctioning of Bt. Brinjal, expressing grave concern for the potential hazards posed to human, animal and environmental health, and to the very food security and sovereignty of India. These are certainly not trivial matters permitting any foolhardy haste in pushing Bt. Brinjal down the throat of this nation.
The central environment ministry is holding public consultations in various Indian cities to decide if they will allow commercial release of Bt. Brinjal. Last October, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, (GEAC), of the government had cleared it. But a member of the committee, Pushpa Bhargava, has alleged that all necessary tests were not carried out before the decision was taken. As things stand, Union Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh is holding his public consultation process and has so far covered Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur and Ahmedabad. He will hold consultations in Bangalore, Chandigarh and Hyderabad too.
However, even as Jairam Ramesh is on the job, two of his ministerial colleagues Sharad Pawar and Prithviraj Chavan have already supported Bt brinjal. Pawar has washed the Centre’s hands off the issue maintaining it has no say on the issue since the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee has given its go-ahead to its commercial production. And Chavan has termed it as safe. The GEAC had given its go-ahead to the GM vegetable in October last year leading to vehement protests from across the country.
The SDPI is also concerned about the implications for food security for the country. It is not desirable to hand over the control of seeds to transnational monopolies. To ensure that access to seed is ensured, the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime must retain farmer’s rights and must not reduce flexibilities in Indian law.
As per the Cartagena protocol, to which India is a signatory, transgenic versions of crops for which we are the country of origin should not be permitted. Mexico, China and Peru follow this protocol. Thus transgenic varieties of Bt brinjal cannot be permitted in India.
The people of India have the right to safe food and the Bt Brinjal violates that. The multinationals have been wooing the farmers saying that GM seeds would give good produce and will not be infested by insects." Can anyone imagine how poisonous those seeds must be that not even insects can infest them.
The SDPI is of the opinion that prudence demands that all the above burning concerns should first be rigorously addressed and satisfactorily resolved, before a highly controversial crop like Bt. Brinjal is even considered an option. The people of India refuse to be anyone’s ‘lab-rats’ or sacrificial goats.
It is clear beyond doubt that the people of the states of Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal – that produce 60 per cent of all the brinjal grown in India – overwhelmingly oppose the release of Bt. Brinjal. The Chief Ministers of these 3 States have reportedly written to the Union Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh recording their opposition, and have pointed out that since agriculture is a state subject, the Centre should not impose the unwanted Bt. Brinjal on them, even ‘unofficially’ via a neighbouring state, as would inevitably happen if Bt. Brinjal is at all permitted anywhere in India.
At least 5 more States, including Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, have also opposed the release of Bt. Brinjal – to protect their citizens and the natural wealth of their land. Indeed, several of these States are in favour of a total ban or moratorium on GM crops.
The SDPI fails to comprehend as to what is this unseemly rush for Indians to be the world’s first guinea-pigs for Bt. Brinjal, bearing a bacterial gene of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt.) that secretes its own pesticide? A baingan (aka brinjal/eggplant/aubergine) engineered to be pregnant with poison!
GM crops are totally prohibited in most nations. In much of Europe, including UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the ban continues in defiance of WTO directives. Over 85 per cent of global GM cultivation is confined to just 4 countries: US, Canada, Argentine and Brazil; and to a mere 4 crops – corn, soya bean, cotton and canola.
There is growing evidence of Bt toxins entering, lingering, and accumulating in the food chain, thereby posing a grave hazard to humans, animals, aquatic life and soil organisms. Furthermore, the medicinal use of various native brinjal varieties (uncooked) in Ayurveda is seriously threatened through contamination by Bt. Brinjal, rendering toxic the intended medicines.
The SDPI hopes that seeing the futility of the GM seeds wisdom prevails on the UPA Government and it steadfastly refuses to grant sanction for the release of Bt. Brinjal or any other GM crop in India. Thus, the Government should desist from the move.
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