Let them eat Bt Brinjal?

The infamous 'Let them eat cake' was never uttered, says historians, rather that was the impression given to the peasants by the French royal family and the extravagant imprudent queen Marie Antoinette.

But India's Environmental Minister, Jairam Ramesh and his team is conspicuously trying hard to push Bt Brinjal into the Indian agricultural community even with many Indian states rejecting the GEAC approval for the same. Brinjal originated in India and we might soon lose the natural seeds to the genetically modified seeds, if Bt Brinjal is slated to cultivate commercially.

I am no tree hugging environmentalist though I grow most of my vegetables without any pesticides and chemicals at home and plant trees at every inch on the fallen sky. I prefer organic any day, not for the fad but for health reasons and simply because I can afford to. India needed a Green Revolution for self sufficiency of food. In due course, we destroyed our soil with the rampant reckless usage of pesticides and eating meat is much safer in India than a vegetable these days. Now we are again trying the same with the genetically modified crops. We are still suffering from the environmental impacts of the Green Revolution, but surely environment takes a back seat compared to eradicating hunger. But now that we are self sufficient in food cultivation and can afford to have a system of safe and organic foods, why is the current Indian Government adamant on introducing the GM crops?

Genetically modified crops in simple terms is introducing certain gene to the seeds, so that the crop become resistant to certain diseases and farmers can eventually cut down the use of pesticides. These are different from hybrids where two naturally occurring seeds or plants are mixed to create a new one. Here, it is altering the DNA of the seed and a new gene is introduced. Sounds scary right? Wait until you hear about the Pusztai affair.

Árpád Pusztai, considered by many to be the leading expert on GM foods, was silenced with threats of a lawsuit after he unexpectedly discovered that rats fed an experimental GM food developed immune system damage and other serious health problems in just ten days. Pusztai later reviewed an industry-sponsored study and found that seven of forty rats fed a GM crop died within two weeks; others developed stomach lesions. The crop was approved without further tests. Smith, Jeffrey M. 2003. Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating.

European Union, Australia, Japan, some African countries have already rejected the GM crops for lack of clear evidence of food safety. So, we Indians should be the guinea pigs of this new food revolution? There are already strange health complaints by farmers who cultivated Bt Cotton, another GM crop and even people who stay near such farms are complaining of strange symptoms. Why is that these data is not looked into? What did we do to rectify these health complaints? Bt Brinjal is promoted by Mahyco Monsanto biotech, a joint venture between Hyderabad-based Mahyco and US-based Monsanto, along with University of Agriculture Sciences, Dharawad, and Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore.

The strange part of all this is why cant we get the labels on GM crops? US is adamant it wont label it's crop and says European Union should not too, since it violates the trade agreement? Why should we not let the consumer know how and where this crop was cultivated? What is harm in that and why not let us choose? We all know when multinational corporations have their say and when studies are sponsored by them, a lot of data gets hidden and what they want in business is what their scientists come up with.

There are two sides to any story and there are a lot of scientists on the other camp claiming genetically modified crops is perfectly safe for human consumption. Whom do we believe? Which study do we take in? and why Brinjal when we don't even have a Brinjal scarcity in India? Are we just apprehensive of a new technology?