Islamabad, Pakistan
July 28, 2008
Source:
Daily Dawn via
Pakistan Biotechnology
Information Center (PABIC)
ONE outcome of the soaring food
prices and global grain shortages has been least predictable. It
is the relaxation in resistance by some countries towards the
genetically modified crops and many opponents of this technology
now feel compelled to accept it for economic reasons.
Japan and South Korea, for instance, have long been known to be
paying extra money to consume conventionally grown corn. Now,
they are buying genetically modified (GM) corn for use in soft
drinks, snacks and other foods because corn prices have tripled
in two years. The world over, biotechnology corporations, with
the support of the US government, are taking advantage of the
crisis to launch a huge offensive to promote hybrids and
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and in some cases
re-launch renewed initiatives where they had failed earlier.
What worries the opponents is inadequate research and knowledge
about these crops which contain genes from other organisms,
giving way to fears that they might pose risks to health and the
environment. Europeans always resented GM foods calling them
Frankenfoods. But now many are calling for faster approvals of
imports of these foods and grains.
A similar situation is developing in Pakistan. A switch to GM
rice, though being attempted, may not succeed as yet because
Pakistan cannot afford to lose a vast market of Middle East and
European Union where its traditional Basmati and Irri-6
varieties are popular. Nor conditions are ripe for an experiment
on wheat.
Only cotton can be considered a candidate for such a
switch-over. And at a time when the cotton output and the area
under cultivation continues to slip every year, there could
hardly be more opportune time for multinationals to convince the
government to introduce Bt cotton to support the faltering
textile industry.
On May 14, the ministry of agriculture signed a letter of intent
(LoI) with Monsanto, an American firm, for introduction of the
certified Bt cotton. An agree ment is expected to be signed
before the beginning of the next cotton season and then the
company will introduce its insect-protection techonology called
‘Bollgard’ and insert its virus resistant gene into Pakistani
varieties. This, however, the ministry is doing without
adequately taking into confidence the farmers community about Bt
cotton’s characteristics, its global record, benefits, failures
and dangers. There has been no public debate in the media, nor
was the matter raised in parliament. Instead, bureaucracy has
mounted a unilateral initiative to change the mode of cotton
cultivation.
There had been efforts in the past to cultivate Bt cotton in
some areas illegally under an assumption that it would give much
higher yield. In the year 2001-02, for instance, its cultivation
was undertaken in the lower and upper Sindh areas from the seeds
smuggled from India. The ministry of agriculture did not take
notice of it.Two years’ observation of this transgenic variety,
under the climatic conditions of upper Sindh, showed its
performance was very erratic.
On February 14, 2007, the federal cabinet had approved in
principle the draft bill of Plant Breeders Rights to meet the
WTO obligation and protect genetically modified crops.The draft
bill was deemed an obligation for Pakistan, being a member of
the WTO under TRIPs Agreement. The bill was to be submitted to
the parliament for approval which has not been done so far.The
draft bill aimed at improving the quality of seed, bringing
discipline to the seed industry and increasing investment in
plant breeding both in private and public sector. The
genetically modified varieties were to be sown after clearance
from the National Biosafety Committee (NBC).
According to a recent unclassified report of US department of
agriculture (USDA), Pakistan continues to ‘envision’
biotechnology as high priority area and has funded more than one
billion rupees on research & development (R&D) in this sector
through various ministries and Higher Education Commission
(HEC). However, out of 28 centres claiming to be involved in
biotechnology only three to five are capable of doing DNA
recombination research of GM crops. Target crops are cotton,
wheat, sugarcane, tomato, can ola and potato and traits are
virus resistance, insect resistance, salt tolerance, drought
tolerance and male sterility for hybrid seed development.
Finding the climate favourable, many multinational companies are
gearing up to formally submit cases for approval to the NBC for
hybrid transgenic crops, as they expect that very soon GM crops
will be allowed to be grown in Pakistan.
Pakistan, at present, is producing small quantities of a variety
of biotech crops, but none have been commercialised despite the
issuance of National Biosafety Guidelines in April 2005. The
National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering
(NIBGE) had also submitted an application to the National
Biosafety Committee (NBC) for the approval of a GM cotton
variety.
Meanwhile, work on GM rice was undertaken with funds from the
Rockefeller Foundation but it is not being encouraged by the
government. Biotech research has also been undertaken on
indigenous crops like potato, chilies, peppers and melons.
According to the USDA report, Pakistan is importing GM soybeans,
soybean oil and other processed food prod ucts from the United
States and other countries.
Although the GM industry has been claiming huge benefits for
many years, none of them have come to fruition. For example, an
April 2006 report of the USDA stated that “currently available
GM crops do not increase the yield potential of a hybrid
variety. […] In fact, yield may even decrease if the varieties
used to carry the herbicide tolerant or insect-resistant genes
are not the highest yielding cultivars”.
In a recent study of 481 cotton farmers in five provinces of
China, researchers from Cornell University found that the early
income gains that Chinese cotton farmers had achieved with Bt
cotton during the 2000–2001 season had completely disappeared
three years later.
What had happened was that, in the initial years, with Bt cotton
controlling bollworms, the area’s major pest, farmers cut back
on their use of broad-spectrum pesticides, thereby reducing
their costs and improving their incomes. But with the Bt cotton
providing no control over secondary pests, these soon took the
place of bollworms. |
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