GM Crops: Herbicide-tolerant

Relevance: Mains: G.S paper III: Indian Economy

What is all about?

• Perhaps, in what could be the world’s first farmer movement in favour of genetically-modified (GM) crops, farmers in Maharashtra planted the banned herbicide-tolerant Bt (HTBt) Cotton — an act that can invite a Rs 1 lakh fine and five years’ jail term as its release is not yet approved by the Environment ministry.

What is Bt cotton?

• Bt cotton was created by adding genes derived from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces over 200 different toxins, each harmful to different insects.
• When certain insects attack the Bt cotton plant, they get killed. Such pest-resistant crops do away with the need for broad-spectrum insecticides, which harm natural insect predators in the farm.
• Reducing the use of pesticides also prevents the agricultural run-off from polluting rivers and the food chain.
• Bt cotton was first approved for commercial use in the United States in 1995. In 2002, a joint venture between US-based Monsanto and the Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co Ltd (Mahyco) introduced Bt cotton to India.

What is HTBt Cotton?

• The HTBt variety adds another genetic modification to the Bt cotton crop — it makes the crop resistant to a commonly-used herbicide.
• HTBt plants allow farmers to spray herbicides to get rid of parasitic weeds in the farm without harming the main crop.
• Using this variety could save the farmers from having to put in extra labour in pulling out weeds, which deprive the cotton plants of vital nutrients and reduce yield.

Why is HTBt cotton banned in India?

• All GM crops in India need to be approved by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), the apex body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
• According to Vijay N. Waghmare, acting director and head of division of crop improvement at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s Central Institute of Cotton Research, has withdrawn an application seeking approval for its next generation of GM Cotton.
• Therefore, HTBT cotton has not been approved for commercial release.

About GEAC

• The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) functions in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
• it is responsible for appraisal of activities involving large scale use of hazardous microorganisms and recombinants in research and industrial production from the environmental angle.
• The committee is also responsible for appraisal of proposals relating to release of genetically engineered (GE) organisms and products into the enviornment including experimental field trials.

Approval process for commercial release of GM crops

• Initially, the company developing the GM crop undertakes several biosafety assessments including, environmental, food, and feed safety assessments in containment.
• This is followed by Bio-safety Research Trials which require prior approval of the regulators, the GEAC and the RCGM.
• Approval for environmental release is accorded by the GEAC after considering the findings of bio-safety studies.
• Finally, commercial release is permitted only for those GM crops found to be safe for humans and the environment.

Effects of GM Crops on Environment

• GM crops are known to have adverse impacts on the environment and health, both from experimental studies and the real-life experiences of those countries that have opted for transgenic technology in agriculture on a large scale.
• Apart from this, issues of trade security due to rejection of transgenic produce by a vast majority of countries or consumers around the world, and of corporate monopolies, have been persistent concerns with this technology.
• In the case of HT crops in particular, there are many concerns: emergence of “super weeds,” chemical usage related to herbicides going up, many environmental and health impacts flowing from the deadly impacts of the herbicide (mainly glyphosate), etc.

Effects of GM Crops on Economy

• HT crops snatch away the potential for employment generation that poor rural women have from agriculture.
• That too at a time when the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is being scaled down and when studies are showing that India’s overall workforce participation of women is coming down.
• This is mainly because of shrinking of rural/agricultural work opportunities, allowing a technology like HT crops to enter our farming, that too illegally, is clearly unwise and unacceptable.
• It is estimated that even if 25% of India’s mustard land shifts to this HT mustard crop, there will be a loss of 4.25 crore employment days, mainly for women. This applies to HT cotton also.
• A Supreme Court technical expert committee, in its majority report, rejected HT crops for India.

Effects of Glyphosate

• Glyphosate has been categorised as a probable human carcinogen (Class 2A, the second strongest category of evidence in a four-tier scale) by the World Health Organization.
• Glyphosate in India is not supposed to be used on cotton, but its consumption is increasing drastically because of the spread of illegal HT cotton seeds which tolerate the spray of glyphosate directly on the crop.
• Although its sale is supposed to have been stopped in Maharashtra, it is freely available over the counter and through e-commerce sites, and is being used by farmers all over the state.
• The implementation of the orders to stop the licensing of glyphosate sales is non-existent on the ground.

Moratorium on GM crops

• India is facing a deadlock over the approval of field trials of new genetically modified (GM) crops.
• Initially Bt cotton was the only GM crop allowed for commercial production in India.
• The fate of other new GM crops was pending in the Supreme Court following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on environmental release of such crops.
• The Apex Court set up a Technical Expert Committee (TEC) of five scientists from various fields to review GMO related concerns.
• The TEC submitted an interim report to the Supreme Court in October 2012 recommending an indefinite moratorium for the next 10 years on field trials of GM crops and complete ban on the commercial release of GM crops.
• However, the drive to get GM crops like GM mustard commercialised (which would be India’s first officially-approved GM food crop) has been relentless.
• The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has even pushed the process by giving it the nod, but the cultivation of GM mustard remains on hold in the Supreme Court due to a public interest litigation
• Despite official committees and reports advising against GMOs, they have already contaminated India’s food system.
• In 2014, the West Bengal government said it had received information regarding “infiltration” of commercial seeds of GM Bt brinjal from Bangladesh.
• In 2017, the illegal cultivation of a GM HT soybean was reported in Gujarat.
• All of this is prompting calls for probes into the workings of the GEAC and other official bodies which have been asleep at the wheel or deliberately looking the other way.

Way Forward

• We need proper enforcement for stopping the sale of glyphosate in the state so that there is no access to this deadly chemical which in turns abets the spread of illegal GM seeds.
• Through cases that have been already identified as part of the illegal seed supply chain, trace back the origin of the seeds and coordinate with other states to crack down on illegal HT cotton seed production itself.
• Continue to have a clear and strong state government policy in favour of sustainable farming, and against transgenic technology; the latter is unneeded, unwanted and unsafe.