Kolkata, India
April 20, 2009
Source:
Business Standard via
SEAMEO SEARCA
Bt brinjal, the country’s first genetically modified (GM) edible
product, is in the final stage of getting a clearance from the
Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), the biotechnology
regulatory body of the Government of India.
The Maharashtra Hybrid Seed
Company (Mahyco) developed Bt brinjal had run into trouble
last year with the Union health ministry and consumer
organisations raising questions about its safety with regard to
health.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Usha Barwale
Zehr, joint director (research), Mahyco, said, “We have already
got the GEAC’s permission to produce Bt brinjal seeds for field
trials, which have been completed. The scientific papers and
data of the field trials have been submitted by the Review
Committee on Genetic Modification (RCGM). It has been tested to
be absolutely safe. We have applied for the commercial release
of Bt brinjal seeds to the GEAC and hope it will be approved by
the end of this year.”
In 2006, Mahyco, a leading seed company in India, which had
successfully introduced cutting-edge biotech products such as Bt
cotton hybrids, had applied for the commercial release of Bt
brinjal, but GEAC had asked the company to conduct some more
studies.
Mahyco had completed those studies and submitted the reports
along with the application for commercial release again in 2008,
Zehr said.
About the NGO campaigns against the release of Bt brinjal,
fuelled by global studies questioning the health and safety of
genetically modified edible products, Zehr claimed that in terms
of composition, it was not different from the normal brinjal,
except for the additional Bt protein. It would also improve the
marketable yield, she said.
A major constraint in brinjal production is plant infestation by
fruit shoot borers or FSBs. The pest can cause significant yield
loss and reduce the number of marketable fruits.
The marketable yield loss due to FSBs is almost 45-60 per cent.
Experts had estimated that financial loss to the country because
of this 45-60 per cent damage was equivalent to Rs 1,000 crore a
year, Zehr said. Bt brinjal can reduce this loss to 10 per cent,
she claimed. Moreover, farmers would require 70 per cent less
insecticides to fight FSBs in this case, she explained.
In India, brinjal is cultivated on 550,000 hectares with average
produce of 30 tonnes.
According to a study by Mahyco, farmers invested about Rs 100
per pesticide spray per acre for anywhere between 40 and 45
sprays on the 90-day brinjal crop, depending upon the type of
infestation, Zehr pointed out. |
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