December 17, 2001	Monday	Shawwal 1, 1422

The Indian government’s inability to take tough action after the discovery of genetically modified (GM) cotton growing in its fields shows how helpless it is in the face of an onslaught of the GM crops.

Fearing genetic contamination through cross-pollination, farmers in Karnataka had then taken torching fields in which the Bt cotton trials were being carried out secretly. However, following this event the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) had persuaded the government to take steps to ensure that the cotton, much it has already sold in the market, is quarantined and seeds destroyed.

In Pakistan too, according to the Consumer Protection Network Islamabad, the American agri-business giant (Monsanto) is aggressively lobbying Pakistan’s government to get clearance for its controversial Bt cotton for large scale cultivation and marketing, claiming that the transgenic variety is environmentally-safe and economically-lucrative for farmers. Here it would be proper to mention that like other parts of the world, environmentalists and consumer rights groups in Pakistan have mounted protest against the introduction of transgenic crop varieties into farmland, fearing such crop will have severe impact on the environment and human health. On the contrary Monsanto’s Bt cotton variety, which the company calls Bollgardcotton, contains a gene obtained from an organism called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Monsanto maintains that the gene is modelled on a naturally occurring soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, that has known insecticidal properties. The company claims that the Bt cotton is genetically enhanced to resist major caterpillar pests, including the tobacco boll worm, boll worm and pink boll worm. But opponent of the Bt cotton believe that even a best case scenario would require farmers to continue insecticidal spraying to supplement the genetic control. The worst-case scenario is economically and environmentally staggering. The Bt gene escaping from pollen grains will harm neighbouring crop bio-diversity.

Also the Bt cotton will become vulnerable to pest attack in the long run as pests would develop resistance. Moreover, if Bollgard’s failure leads to super-resistant strain, conventional farmers, rather than having a tool that would reduce insecticide use, would be forced to spray more frequently. Organic farmers could lose their most useful tool, with nothing to replace it on the horizon. According to Keith Jones, director of agriculture and rural development programme at the Sustainable Food Centre in Austin (USA), Monsanto should address its responsibility.

Those who make the mistakes seem never to have to pay the price. In this case, farmers are going to have to have to spray more, we may have stronger pesticide and the Bt could be rendered useless in a wide range of crops. Besides resistance factor other aspect of the Bt cotton cultivation is its requirement of pest scouting even more closely than the conventional cotton because no one can be sure if the insect will survive the Bt when insects will survive during the growing season, or exactly which insects may survive. One more important aspect of growing the Bt cotton is the requirement of planting refuge cotton crop in the vicinity. The goal of planting a refuge is resistance management. Over time, insects can build up resistance to insecticides or toxins. Refugee caterpillars and moths with zero resistance to the Bt. When these moths met with moths grown on the Bt cotton, they pass their susceptibility on to their offsprings. Growers who use the Bt cotton have two options for planting refuge acres. (i) They can plant 25 acres of non-Bt cotton for every 100 acres of the Bt cotton, and agree not to use foliar Bt sprays to control the targeted worms on refuge acres or (ii) they can plant 4 acres of non-Bt cotton for every 100 acres of the Bt cotton, and not use any insecticides to control the targeted worms on refuge acres.

Suggestions: In view of the lack of appropriate legislation and guidelines to handle the GM crops as well as its pre-requisites like the enhanced pest scouting and refuge crop it is imperative that like the European Union, a 3-year moratorium on the GM crop cultivation in the country is ordered by the government.

In order to prevent illegal entry of the Bt cotton from any foreign soil especially India, services of the Federal Plant Protection Department may be sought, who is maintaining plant quarantine regulatory service at all entry and exit points viz: airports, sea-ports and land routes.