Only cotton – Bt cotton – has been genetically modified in India. The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Ministry of Environment is considering approval for release of GM (genetically modified) mustard. Field trials have also been conducted for crops such as rice, mustard, corn, chickpea and brinjal – whose release was halted in 2010 due to safety concerns. Given the world wide controversy about the safety of GM crops for health, agriculture and environment, there is serious concern that biosafety test data is now not being disclosed by GEAC for independent scientific evaluation. Most state governments, however, refuse to permit tests. Like most countries in the world, they believe that the benefits are doubtful and the risks are high, unpredictable and irreversible. Pro-GM lobbyists, in the corporate world and agricultural research establishments, claim GM is necessary for food security, will increase yields, decrease pesticide use and that India will be ‘left behind’ if it does not embrace GM technology. Since the seed itself is modified, the GM trait can spread through pollen transfer by wind or insects and by seeds getting mixed with non GM seeds, making it impossible to control or reverse their spread. Since GM technology cannot be effectively ‘regulated,’ it has to be accepted or rejected, while we still have a choice. The websites of GMfree India, GMWatch and India for Safe Food provide latest updates, but the following answers some frequently asked questions.
What are genetically modified organisms or GMOs?
The World Health Organisation defines GMOs as “organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally”. The transference of genes in GM technology usually crosses species barriers (from bacteria to plants, a fish gene into a tomato etc). These sudden modifications do not permit normal evolutionary checks and balances (e.g, as pests develop, the predators for them also develop, creating “the balance of nature”). Since nature is enormously complex, it is impossible to predict or control the consequences.
So, is GM food safe?
Despite various claims, only two traits – Pesticide production (Bt) and Herbicide Tolerance (HT) – are currently found in 99% of GM crops. Both of these result in humans ingesting toxins produced within the plant or sprayed onto it.
Bt crops– from the bacteruium Bacillus thurigiensis – have a gene inserted into the GM seed which continuously produces a toxin in every cell of the plant and cannot be removed by washing. It is considered far more toxic than natural Bt sprays and may even be passed onto the developing foetus.
HT crops – using herbicide tolerance genes – enable the crop to tolerate a specific herbicide so that only the weeds will die. The HT seed and the herbicide are usually made by the same company. Sale of Monsanto’s glyphosate-based Round Up herbicide increased ten-fold after HT seeds were introduced. Since the GM seed patents are held by the world’s largest pesticide companies, they have no interest in reducing pesticide use! The regulators rely on ‘safety’ studies done by the GM seed companies for 90 days on rodents – equal to about 10 years for a human. This is too short a time for cancer or organ damage to emerge. The first long-term study done for the entire lifetime of the rodents showed a great increase in tumours from herbicide tolerant maize and small doses of Round Up herbicide. This study was strongly rejected by the pro-GM lobby, but in March 2015 the World Health Organization classified glyphosate as ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’.
The claim that trillions of GM meals have been eaten in USA without adverse impact is false for several reasons. Firstly, GM crops in USA have no labelling, so one cannot precisely trace their effect. Secondly, like tobacco, GM crops will show adverse effects after years. Thirdly, medical associations representing thousands of doctors have stated that GM and chemicals associated with them have led to higher incidence of cancer, birth defects, organ damage, autism, alzheimers etc. Over 300 eminent scientists have said that there is no consensus on their safety. The majority of countries do not grow GM and require labelling of products having GM ingredients. India has passed such legislation, but is not implementing it, so Bt cotton seed oil is being mixed in our cooking oil, but not disclosed on labels.
The truth behind ‘increased yields’ and ‘food security’
Yield is the result of many factors – the quality of the seed which is modified, the soil, climate etc. There is no ‘gene’ that increases yield. In 2009, the Union of Concerned Scientists, USA, studied 13 years of GM corn and soya. Their report, “Failure to Yield”, found GM did not increase yields. The US Department of Agriculture Report for 2014 has also stated that GM had not increased yields. Research shows that Non-GM Europe has increased yields and lowered pesticide use far more than GM-growing USA.
In India, we had a 69% increase in All India cotton yield in the five years (2000 to 2005) when Bt cotton was less than 6% of total cotton grown. Only a 10% increase occurred in the nine years (2005 to 2014) when Bt cotton increased to 90%. GM does not increase food security. In USA, food insecure people increased from 12% in 1995 (before GM) to 15% in 2011, after 15 years of GM crops.
What are the risks from GM to environment and agriculture?
As a result of repeated use of the glyphosate based herbicide used with HT seeds, over 20 weed species have now become resistant and invaded 33% of US farmlands. The seed-cum-pesticide companies profit, as the distraught farmers spray more and more toxic herbicides.
In Bt crops, insecticide use first decreases, and yield improves for some years. But later, the main pest (e.g, bollworm) gets resistant and secondary pests (e.g, mealy bugs, white flies and other sucking pests) become a major problem. Insecticide use (e.g, on Bt cotton in India) again increases.
Agriculturally important pollinators like butterflies and bees, and natural pest controllers like ladybugs, etc., are destroyed by the herbicides and neonicotinoids used on GM seeds. Yields will eventually fall when pollinators and pest controlling species are destroyed by chemicals.
Will India ‘be left behind’ without GM crops?
India will not be left behind if she doesn’t adopt GM. Technologically advanced countries such as Japan, Israel, Korea, Russia, Singapore and almost all of Europe do not grow GM. Only three of the world’s most developed countries grow GM, and over 90% of all GM area is still confined to just six countries: USA, Brazil, Argentina, Canada account for 83%, India 6% and China 2%. The first four, who have average farm sizes in hundreds of acres, grow mainly herbicide tolerant crops to save on weeding labour costs. China, once ahead of India, is now extremely cautious and has cancelled field trials of GM rice and corn, punished officials for ‘unauthorised’ trials, banned GM food for its army and destroyed shipments of ‘unauthorised’ GM corn from USA.
India has a huge seed market and is being constantly lobbied to adopt GM. HT seeds drastically reduce employment from weeding. Moreover in India, where 81% of farmers are poor and have less than 1 hectare of land, costly Bt cotton seeds, to be bought afresh each year and requiring chemical fertilisers and timely irrigation, increase debts and risks for farmers. This leads to despair when prices, pests or rains fail them. Unfortunately, the economic and social burden of GM failures does not fall on the seed companies, but on farmers – and on taxpayers for loan waivers.
The alternatives to GM
Research shows that conventional breeding has provided most of our increases in yields, not GM – and at a fraction of the cost of GM. Agro-ecology, which decreases toxic chemicals and is in harmony with nature, has been found, in a UN report, to double yields. Organic produce, whose demand is growing at an estimated 25% per annum globally, provides more employment, uses less water, improves soil fertility, gives higher incomes and achieves sustainably high yields. The highest suicides are amongst Bt cotton farmers, but there are no suicides amongst organic farmers, as they do not have to take loans to buy expensive seeds and chemicals. India has the largest number of skilled organic farmers, and this is our REAL ‘Make in India’ opportunity! GM contamination makes any return to organic very difficult, so USA is now the largest importer of organic soya from India. Since GM invariably causes contamination of non-GM produce, it can destroy India’s agricultural export potential.
Why are even GM field trials unsafe?
Contamination takes place even from field trials under strictest regulations. In 2006 in USA, GM rice from farm trials contaminated shipments to Europe, caused an estimated loss of one billion dollars to US farmers. GM wheat from field trials done between 1998 and 2005, surfacing in farms in 2013, caused immediate cancellation of contracts from Japan and Korea. Bayer Crop Science paid the rice farmers $750 million and Monsanto has paid over $2.4 million so far to wheat farmers. Field trials in Indian Agriculture Universities could contaminate priceless germ plasm stored with them. Several high level committees have found evaluation, regulation and implementation extremely weak and called for a halt to field trials, till many essential steps are implemented.The reports of the following high level committees in India, which studied GM issues for several years, are important: