Farmers in India say No! to the first GM vegetable

by Krista Beckley

While farmers in India have been growing eggplant for thousands of years, suddenly their staple isn’t quite sufficient to satiate Monsanto. Considering that if approved Bt bringal (a variety of eggplant) will be the first GM vegetable ever grown for large-scale human consumption in the world, Monsanto has a lot to loose if enough people say no.

Good thing India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has enough common courtesy to listen to his constituency before he gives into the song-and-dance (though they might as well be called demands) of the giant multinational corporation.

This week Ramesh put a moratorium on the cultivation of all GM vegetables indefinitely, citing a ‘precautionary’ approach ( HYPERLINK "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8506047.stm" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8506047.stm). While he mused at the difficulty of his decision, his dilemma isn’t without warrant.

And Mahyco (Monsanto’s subsidiary in India) isn’t alone in their quest for vegetative market domination- they couple their efforts with the government. Specifically the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) already approved Bt varieties of eggplant in October of 2009 (They also have allowed GMO cotton for use in India since 2002).

The approval for Bt eggplant came after only one year in trial. While these short terms trials are considered exhaustive by groups like Monsanto, long terms studies on ecology, human health, non-target exposure, and a variety of other factors show a mass of concerns with such genetically modified varieties, concerns that continue to dog the industry across nearly all its products.

In regards to human health, Mr. Salimath- the director for the field trails of Bt eggplant, according to the same BBC article- said "There's hardly any danger to human health. This gene is used in corn, canola and soya for the past decade or more, and it's shown that it is totally safe”. Again, popular marketing campaigns backed by these ‘experts’ leave most consumers totally unaware of the possible health affects associated with ingestion of Bt foodstuffs. For instance, the Bt protein actually attaches itself to the small intestines in mice, changing the organs “electrophysiological properties”. It can also generate an immune response that some researchers have noted is as potent as that of cholera toxin. (Both studies, including many others, can be found in the book Genetic Roulette by Jeffery M. Smith).

Not to mention that the costs of production will be siphoned off onto the consumer at the market- negating the benefit of possible smaller-eggplant-losses-due-to-pests when the buyer can’t afford the product anymore. Or worse, even if they don’t buy into the scheme, they might lose access to the thousands of varieties that could be threatened by large scale mono-cropping of this one variety.

And all of this stands beside the fact that Bt use doesn’t actually mean the end of pesticide use and as such it doesn’t follow that this technology will necessarily help any small farmer. Considering the price of GM seed, the technology, and methods necessary for upkeep, small farmers in India can’t expect this technology to be sustainable for many generations in the future.

Which is why “Several of the eggplant-growing Indian states have already said they were opposed to Bt bringal” ( HYPERLINK "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8506047.stm" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8506047.stm).

http://civileats.com/2010/02/24/power-to-the-people-india-puts-gm-eggpla...