Hyderabad:
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh's cautious stance in imposing a moratorium on genetically modified Bt brinjal has been vindicated, if only indirectly, ironically, by none other than seed giant Monsanto admitting that pests have developed resistance to the first GM crop it introduced in India. (
Read: No to Bt Brinjal for now)
Multinational giant Monsanto has admitted for the first time anywhere in the world that a pest, pink bollworm, has developed resistance to its genetically modified Bt cotton variety in Gujarat. Activists warn that this could happen in Bt brinjal and the 33 other GM crops in the pipeline.
G.Ramanjaneyulu, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture: "The question of the need for Bt brinjal is questioned. The brinjal fruit-shoot borer is a monophagus pest, means it feeds only on brinjal. So resistance will develop much faster like in the pink bollworm."
The company blames farmers for not following norms, of growing non-Bt cotton variety along with Bt cotton. So, they say, resistance has developed. Monsanto has advised a shift to generation two of Bt cotton, Bollgard II, that will incidentally benefit the company an additional 100 rupees on each seed packet.
B.Sesikeran, GEAC expert committee member: "Whatever has happened with cotton can happen with any other crop as well. Whatever technology, it will have its own limited life-period during which time, resistance is likely to develop. Newer technology has to come to overcome this."
An internal note of the Union government says the admission of failure may be a marketing ploy to push Bt 2 cotton seeds and stump competition as its only now that public sector Bt cotton has entered the market.
New technology can sometimes be a very costly learning experience, like it happened in the case of pesticides. That is why those against GM crops ask why we need to embrace a technology whose implications we do not fully comprehend as yet.
Also read:
The Bt brinjal saga