A Collective Thumbs Down To Bt Brinjal
Brinjal. Eggplant. Aubergine. By any name, it
sure is better without the ‘Bt’ tag, or so people in India decided as they came
out loud and strong to stall the introduction of Bt Brinjal in the country. And
one guess where the seeds were going to come from? From Mayco-Monsanto, the
local supplier of these new generation seeds which were touted as being the
saviour of farmers – no more pests, higher yields, better profits….you know,
the usual hyperbole. Fortunately, there are some issues where the Indian population
comes out in numbers and this is one of them…..now if only there were more such
instances!
On the face of it, it all sounds so good, so
Utopian almost. A perfect world where crop infestation and diseased grains and
now vegetables are a thing of the past. The thing is, when one interferes with
Nature, there usually are repercussions. However, what might constitute future
problems are swept under the carpet – and why not, when the company that has
been in the forefront of this ‘humanitarian’ research stands to gain millions?
Let’s rewind a bit to another GMO seed that was
introduced in India – Bt Cotton. In 1995, Monsanto came together with India’s
Mayco to import Bt cotton seeds into India to be crossed with local varieties.
They were made available in the local market in 2002 ostensibly to end the poor
Indian farmer’s woes and blow the winds of prosperity across his holdings with
this new pest-resistant strain. Unfortunately, while there was so much research
that was going on in the government-funded agencies (where did the funding come
from, one wonders?), there was little if no transparency when it came to the
findings. In less than a year, the crop failed to meet farmers’ raised expectations
and there were many suicides across the land, thanks to failed crops. What
happened was the growth of pests – Bt-resistant bollworms in fields. Half the
pesticides in the country are used against this one pest – and now, we have a
resistant strain growing and spreading. The other factor of course, is the fact
that these are ‘terminator’ seeds – you need to buy new seeds every time you
want to plant a new crop. Which means that you once they get to you, you are
chained to the company for life.
Consider this. There are more than 2000
varieties of brinjal in India and they have been grown in the country for over
4000 years – do we really want to wish them all away and replace them with a
few ‘robotic’ strains? The country’s educated said ‘No’ and ‘Enough’. Suddenly,
there was a huge outcry, snowballing into the Environment Minister’s office
overflowing with emails, faxes, letters to stop this monstrous march to what
was being termed a technological revolution. The research that had been
released by the company was too sketchy and not objective to warrant its
introduction without proper research. Till then, the political leaders, some of
the newspapers and media channels and the companies involved were singing its
praises. On January 30, the anniversary of
Mahatma Gandhi assassination, 100,000 people across the land went on a
fast to protest. Sensing a revolution, the Environment Minister put the
introduction on hold. No, the danger isn’t past as yet and we should be vigilant.
All they have done is to postpone the introduction – indefinitely.
We need to do what Europe is doing. They’ve
banned fabric made of GM cotton and they have always said an emphatic No to all
GMO foods. How can we base the safety of the rest of our lives and the lives of
future generations on research that has been funded by the company that
promotes GM technology? How can we expect it not to be skewed in their favour?
Awareness is the only answer and the more of us who stand up and say No when we
have to, the better for the world. We can do it if we try. And when we do, we
can move the world.
