Oct 27, 2009

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Indian environment minister puts approval on hold

India: Dispute about GM aubergines

A dispute is raging in India about the approval of a genetically modified Bt aubergine that is resistant to the eggplant borer, a pest found in the tropics. Although the approving authority has classified the Bt aubergine as harmless, its approval has been halted for the time being. It is the first GM food approval application to have been submitted in India.

In India, aubergines are grown on an area measuring over 600,000 hectares, making India the world’s second largest aubergine producer after China.

The Bt aubergine was developed as part of a joint project involving three Indian research institutes and the companies Monsanto and Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company). The approval procedure covers four different varieties of aubergine (called ‘brinjal’ in India).

On 14 October the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) took a majority decision that Bt brinjal should be classed as harmless and authorised for cultivation. Just one day later, the Indian environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, put the approval on hold following heavy public protests. He justified his actions with the fact that three of the twenty scientists on the GEAC had voted against approving Bt brinjal. Ramesh will now hold further consultations with scientists, agricultural experts, farmers’ associations, consumer groups and NGOs at the beginning of 2010 and will not decide what to do next until after the consultations.

The producers of Bt brinjal cite a total of 25 studies that they have conducted since 2002, the results of which are in the public domain. Critics accuse the GEAC of not having analysed the companies’ studies independently. They cite an expert report published in January 2009 and produced by French scientist Gilles-Eric Seralini on behalf of Greenpeace.

In January 2009, the GEAC also convened a committee of 16 experts to evaluate the risk assessments conducted by Mahyco and to address the reservations put forward by critics. The committee consisted primarily of scientists in top positions at various Indian research bodies. They presented their report at the beginning of October 2009 and it was on the basis of that report that the GEAC decided to authorise the cultivation of Bt brinjal.

One of the accusations made by Seralini was that the Bt protein produced by Bt brinjal is an unknown chimeric protein from Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac. He also criticised the fact that the genetically modified aubergine carries two antibiotic-resistance genes. On this point, the expert committee observed that Bt brinjal produces a Bt protein that differs from the Cry1Ac from B. thuringiensis in only one amino acid and has been thoroughly characterised using molecular biological methods. The antibiotic-resistance genes nptII and aad have been used many times in genetically modified plants and are proven to be harmless.

When it came to the feeding studies and toxicity tests, Seralini pointed to a number of changes in the animals fed on Bt brinjal. These mainly involved haematological and biochemical parameters, including blood clotting time, bilirubin levels and glucose concentration. The expert committee established that all the differences lay within the bounds of normal physiological variation, that none of them were statistically significant and that none of them were accompanied by changes to vital organs. The differences in food intake, cited by Seralini, were not statistically significant and some were only temporary. The committee of experts refuted other criticisms, including the fact that the feeding studies were limited to a period of 90 days, and that several control groups were used, stating that these approaches were in line with international guidelines and did not alter the validity of the studies.

In terms of the environmental safety of Bt brinjal, the main concern voiced by GM opponents is that the genes might outcross. Aubergines probably originated in India. In addition to various varieties of cultivated aubergines, the country is also home to several wild relatives. In his study, Seralini expressed a concern that the Cry gene contained in Bt brinjal might outcross to the wild aubergines. On this point, the expert committee established that it had been proven that cultivated and wild aubergines do not cross.

Bt brinjal is the first GM food for which approval has been sought in India. The initial application is for the approval of hybrid varieties that cannot be propagated by farmers. Critics fear that Bt aubergines could crowd conventional aubergines out of the market, making farmers dependent on Mahyco and Monsanto. However, Mahyco has given the technology to the public sector through a Public Private Partnership. The plan is to cross the Bt gene into openly pollinating aubergine varieties, which can then be propagated by farmers.

According to Mahyco’s results, during the field trials with Bt brinjal from 2004 to 2006, 80 per cent less eggplant borer insecticide was used, and 40 per cent less pesticide overall, yet the yields were twice those of the isogenic parent variety. These results were largely confirmed in the field trials conducted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. On this basis, agricultural economists Vijesh Krishna and Matin Qaim of the Universities of Hohenheim and Göttingen are forecasting higher profits for farmers and lower aubergine prices, despite higher seed prices. The reduction in insecticide use would also significantly cut health costs for farmers. The population of eastern India in particular would benefit, since that is where two-thirds of the aubergine-growing area is situated. The farms here are smaller, the households poorer and pest infestation and insecticide use higher than in the rest of the country.