Should we grow gm crops

Should we grow gm crops

To hide her nakedness, India has borrowed a ‘fig leaf (a thing intended to conceal a difficulty or embarrassment.)’ from U.S. regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), i.e. in the non-regulation of these novel laboratory organisms. The U.S. invented GMOs and commercialized them despite serious safety concerns expressed by government scientists.
Myths and realities
GMOs carry risks of ‘unintended’ effects and toxicity, which confront us with a double problem: scientists don’t know what to look for, and health impacts become apparent only in the long term, such as cancer. California reaffirmed last month, despite GM behemoth (विशालकाय) Monsanto’s (Monsanto Company is a publicly traded American multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation.) best efforts, that its glyphosate, considered the safest herbicide, will be included in a list of chemicals labelled as “cancer-causing” (following the categorisation of glyphosate by the World Health Organization as a “probable carcinogen”).
There is serious concern that Monsanto may have known for 30 years that glyphosate is an endocrine (hormone) disruptor; no regulatory agency anywhere regulates for endocrine disruption despite overwhelming evidence from Argentina of horrendous (भयानक/भीषण) birth defects because of glyphosate used in herbicide-tolerant (HT) soybeans. In this context, Bayer’s glufosinate, the herbicide linked with Indian HT mustard, is an acknowledged neurotoxin banned in the EU. The Supreme Court-appointed technical expert committee recommended a ban on any HT crop in India for this among several other reasons.
The myths that have sustained the propaganda of a safe and highly productive GM crop technology for two decades — that it “will feed the world” — are fast dissolving. The current stable of GMOs comprises just two products, Bt (e.g. Bt cotton) and HT crops (HT mustard), and they account for nearly 99% of GMOs planted worldwide. Both, on empirical evidence (including India’s Bt cotton), are proven unsustainable technologies. There are promises of GMOs with traits for disease, drought etc., but these are complex, multi-gene traits and remain futuristic. What is abundantly clear is that traditional breeding outperforms GMOs hands down.
Going against evidence
Globally and in India, the conflict of interest is pernicious (हानिकारक/नुकसानदेह): our regulatory institutions/ministries are funders, promoters, developers and regulators, a fine blend of multitasking. There is neither independence nor rigour (सावधानी). Add to this the serious lack of expertise in risk assessment, and we are sitting on an agri-biosecurity powder keg. These matters are fully attested to in four official Government of India reports. We have moved from dismal (खराब/निराशाजनक) regulation in Bt cotton in 2002 to outright (completely) delinquency (चूक/दोष) evident in the current ‘plot’ to commercialise HT mustard. The regulation is subterranean (अप्रत्यक्ष/गुप्त), unconstitutional and also in contempt of Supreme Court orders pertaining to Bt brinjal/mustard.
The HT mustard field trials, which were accessed under the Right to Information Act, are a revelation of regulatory shambles (गड़बड़/बेतरतीबी). This hybrid-making HT mustard, on the government’s own admission in the Supreme Court, has not out-yielded our best non-GMO hybrids and varieties. Yet this is the notion sung in high decibels in an ever-increasing crescendo (आरोह/उत्कर्ष) by the media.
We must learn from the lessons of the history of hazardous technologies, DDT, asbestos, etc. But GMOs, critically, stand apart from these. GMOs are self-replicating organisms and genetic contamination of the environment, of non-GM crops and wild species through gene flow is certain: it cannot be contained, reversed, remedied or quantified. Our seed stock will also be contaminated at the molecular level. Any toxicity that there is will remain in perpetuity (सदैवत्व/स्थायित्व) . The traits for disease, saline and drought resistance, yield, etc. are found in nature, not biotech labs. We must maintain India’s still-rich genetic diversity for the future of our agriculture.