May 15, 2000 / Environment News Service / Devinder Sharma
NEW DELHI, India -- India has decided to allow Monsanto to undertake large scale field trials of a controversial genetically engineered variety of cotton. The approval is the first of its kind in India. The permit was granted by the Review Committee for Genetic Manipulation, a high level committee of experts headed by the vice chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, Dr. Ashish Dutta.
It is likely to open the flood gates for a number of genetically engineered crop varieties now undergoing research trials for which their developers are seeking permission for trials in farmers' fields. Among these are genetically engineered varieties of mustard, rapeseed and tomato.
The committee accorded the "biosafety clearance," after the Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Corporation (Mahyco), partly owned by Monsanto, made a presentation on the basis of data collected from research trials at 60 different locations.
The controversial GM cotton called Bollguard, contains a gene from the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt).
Bt cotton contains a gene transferred from the bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) that lets plants produce what the company calls "a safe, natural insecticide." When pink bollworm and certain other caterpillar pests of cotton feed on these plants, they die.
The insects have already developed resistance to fourth generation chemicals known as synthetic pyrethroids, and they continues to ravage the cotton now standing in Indian fields.
Equally worrisome to environmentalists and some farmers is the fact that the Bt cotton also contains a gene for herbicide tolerance. Cotton growers will have to spray their genetically crops with Roundup herbicide, a Monsanto chemical that is now feared to be a carcinogen. The chemical is known to break down when temperatures exceed 37 degrees Celsius, and it is not unusual to have the mercury soaring beyond this point in the cotton belt, thereby rendering the herbicide ineffective.
Monsanto states that based on "results of extensive toxicological studies in animals, it was demonstrated that there is no evidence that glyphosate herbicide causes carcinogenicity, birth defects, neurotoxic effects or mutagenic effects. In addition, data from environmental fate studies showed that no significant adverse effects in the environment occurred following exposure to glyphosate when used according to label directions."
Monsanto's BollGuard cotton has been registered in the United States since 1995.
When cotton seed is pressed to extract oil, cottonseed cake is a by-product.
High in protein, cottonseed cake is a supplement to other feed for ruminant livestock. The biosafety clearance granted in India for field trials of Bollguard cotton does not amount to a final approval for cultivation. The results of the trials in the farmers' fields will have to be approved by another committee.
Still, even before the genetically engineered crop is to be sown in the farmers' fields, the Indian Department of Biotechnology is expressing confidence at the prospect of the commercialisation of Bt cotton in India before the end of 2001.
Activists, scientists and environmentalists have been quick to criticize the approval, saying that the decision of the Department of Biotechnology was "unfortunate."
A major worry is the possibility of the insect developing resistance to the genetically engineered cotton. This can trigger farmer suicides in the cotton belt.
More than 500 cotton growers committed suicide in the 1998-99 season when their crops were devoured by insects, which had developed resistance to the commonly used pesticides.
Cotton crops receive nearly 55 percent of the pesticides sprayed in India.
Monsanto argues that cultivation of its genetically engineered Bt cotton will help farmers save money, which they currently spend on pesticides and will also help in environmental protection from the excessive use of pesticides.
But critics say the genetically engineered cotton produces toxins too - toxins that are several times more harmful than pesticides and can harm beneficial insects, soil micro-organisms and adversely affect human health.
About 200 farmers from three villages met in Parveda village, Andhra Pradesh, to share stories on control of the dreaded bollworm which infests cotton. Critics fear that the genetically engineered cotton will escape the trial fields and cross breed with other native cotton species.
India is one of the original centres of cotton and hosts a rich biodiversity of cotton varieties.
Two years ago Indian farmers demonstrated their anger against the technology. A group of irate farmers uprooted Monsanto's Bt cotton crop under research trials in parts of the southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Chanting "Cremate Monsanto" and "Stop Genetic Engineering," uprooted and burned Bt cotton fields in front of a bank of TV cameras and news reporters.
The farmers' organisation, Karnataka Rajya Ryota Sangha, which led the protest action, has vowed once again to oppose the technology and its control over the food chain and the farming systems.
