In 'Origin of Cultivated Plants' published in 1886, De Candolle states that the species of brinjal has been known in South Asia from ancient times, and it was regarded as a native product.
It can be registered under Geographical Indication Act as a GI product in some parts of Bangladesh and India. This area is suitable for its production because of warm weather. Brinjal has been cultivated in the region for the last 4,000 years. Researcher Vavilov (1928) was of the opinion that its centre of origin was in this region.
The global cultivation of brinjal covers 2,044,803 hectares of land. Bangladesh cultivates the vegetable in 50,000 hectares of land only. China is the largest producer of brinjal.
Brinjal is attacked by a number of pests and nematodes during various stages of crop growth in most of the tropical countries, and is prone to attack by many insect-pests, causing significant losses of up to 60 to 70 per cent of commercial production. But it is still a cheap vegetable and is widely consumed by people of all regions.
With the advanced technology for higher yield and better crops and agricultural GM (genetically modified) products, brinjal could be infused with pest-resistant genes, namely, bacillus thuringiensis (BT) for keeping at bay some categories of insects, for reduction in pesticides used in the crops for faster growth, production of extra nutrients, or other beneficial purposes. The BT-infused products are called Genetically Modified Crops (GMCs, GM crops, or biotech crops).
The process is also called genetic engineering, genetic modification, and is a direct manipulation of traditional plant organism's genome using biotechnology.
BT is a micro-organism that produces chemicals toxic to insects. It is an insecticide with unusual properties that make it useful for pest control in certain situations. Effects of BT on human health and the environment depend on how much quantity is applied and the length and frequency of exposure. Effects also depend on the health of a person and/or certain environmental factors.
The era of BT began in 1901. A Japanese scientist called Shigetane Ishiwata isolated a bacterium from dead silkworm larvae, while he was investigating the cause of the so-called "sotto disease" (sudden-collapse disease). This microbial insecticide was originally registered in 1961 as a general-use insecticide. A registration standard was issued in 1986 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
A total of 28 countries grow GM crops on 170 million hectares of land with the US and Brazil on the forefront, according to a 2012 report by International Service for the Acquisition of Agro-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).
In South Asia India, Pakistan and Myanmar grow only genetically modified (GM) cotton with BT. BT Cotton was cultivated for the first time in 2002. It was told that the seeds will protect the plants from bollworm, a common pest that attacks the crop but the seeds fail to protect the plants from bollworm attack. These are also terminator-seeds and farmers are buying new seeds from companies for each and every crop. Seed prices once were so high that the state government of Andhra Pradesh in India approached the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) challenging the pricing of BT cotton seeds. The cultivation requires a double amount of water as opposed to conventional crop cultivation. BT cotton was being grown and had reported the occurrence of new diseases and pests in the fields, high cost of cultivation, uneven crop performance, crop failure and no reduction in pesticide use. There are incidence of mortality and morbidity in sheep that had grazed in the BT cotton fields. BT cotton has proven devastating to farmers in India.
Some of the African countries ban import of GM products on the grounds of human health and environmental issues. Report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reveals that Ethiopia is banning the import of GM foods, saying it would undermine farmers who already have their own traditional ways of fighting pests and weeds. Zambia has banned the import of all GM products, citing concerns over biological and health hazards.
There is some confusion about this issue. BT toxins are at present used as insecticidal sprays on a variety of crops, but the spray can be washed off the plants and is of a lesser toxic form of the protein than that made by GE plants, which is inside all parts of the plant. A close supervision and education can control the external use of toxin.
The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), has conducted a seven-year experiment since 2006, with the technical support of Mahyco, an Indian company, in collaboration with Monsanto in USA. This is not a Bangladesh government initiative, it is part of the three-country (India, Philippines and Bangladesh) experiment based on technology developed and transferred by Mahyco.
There has not been any other adequate safety testing of BT Brinjal for human consumption. The impact of BT used in the brinjal is reportedly supported by the study conducted by Mahyco. Seeds of a proprietary line of Mahyco were used as the source material for brinjal transformations. Efficacy studies were conducted by Mahyco. Insecticidal activity of the transgenic BT Brinjal against brinjal and shoot borer (leucinodes orbonalis, and helicoverpa armigera) was examined. BT Brinjal was found to be effective against these target pests.
A self-assessed dossier submitted by Mahyco-Monsanto was subjected to a comprehensive appraisal by several leading international scientists, who examined the raw data. They found that bio-safety studies, which were claimed to have been conducted, were essentially not done. It was revealed while the dossier was forced into the public domain by an order of the Supreme Court of India.
Moreover, it has been observed by an independent study that there are at least four mechanisms by which the introduction of the BT toxin gene into the Brinjal genome can cause harm. These include (1) the random insertion of the BT gene into the plant DNA and the resulting unintended consequences, (2) alterations in crop metabolism by the BT protein that results in new, equally unintended and potentially toxic products, (3) the direct toxicity of the BT protein, and (4) an immune response elicited by the protein.
The Indian government stopped commercialisation of BT Brinjal in February, 2010 until any independent study supported the human consumption of BT Brinjal.
BT crops were approved in the Philippines without adequate objective scientific data supporting its safety - either in terms of human health or environmental impact. The Philippine Court of Appeals on 20 September, 2012 issued the ruling preventing the government from conducting field testing of genetically modified, pest-resistant BT Brinjal. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that GE or BT Brinjal violates the public's constitutional rights to a healthy environment and, therefore, recognised the scientific uncertainties of the health and environmental safety of BT crops. Among others, the court found no scientific consensus on the safety and impacts of BT Brinjal and a lack of law that governs introduction, release and experimentation of genetically-modified crops like BT Brinjal. There is no hope for BT crops in the Philippines and India until it has been proven beyond doubt that BT crops are safe for human consumption.
The Bangladesh National Committee on Bio-safety (NCB) officially released four varieties of brinjals, which are infused with BT. Bangladesh will be the first in the region to grow a GM food crop without any independent report of its impact on humans and other animals.
Since July, 2013, there have been protests by environmental groups, along with writ petitions in the High Court. The High Court directed the government not to release the genetically modified crop, BT Brinjal, without assessing possible health risks. The court ordered Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) to submit a progress report after conducting an independent research focusing on the health safety issues in line with the GM food standards set by Codex Alimentarius Commission, an organisation founded by the FAO and the WHO.
Bangladesh authorities are still in a mood to initiate commercial production of BT Brinjals. Through this, Bangladesh has offered itself to be a guinea pig for a GM crop, that is not needed, and which will affect millions of people including consumers and farmers.
Bangladesh authorities hardly care about the safety of the citizens but there is growing concern in India regarding government moves to allow BT crops. Any Bangladesh vegetable can easily enter the Indian market through the long common border. The rights groups in India argue with their government to take adequate measures under the Article 25 of the Cartagena Protocol on Bio-safety to stop any such trans-boundary movement of the GM crops in the eventual case of BT Brinjal cultivation in Bangladesh.
The Cartegena Protocol on Bio-safety, an instrument of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), was specifically created for safeguarding biodiversity, including human health, from either intentional or unintentional trans-boundary movement of living modified organisms. The Protocol also highlights the need for all parties to take adequate measures to prevent any damage from this inherently risky technology. The convention puts much emphasis on the exchange of information and cooperation between countries. The convention to which both India and Bangladesh are parties to, recommends that all measures should be put in place to protect the centres of origin and diversity of crops.
The global citizens' initiative is trying to make Bangladesh realise the BT fallout. One hundred various non-governmental organisations, farmers' organisations, consumer groups, and independent scientific organisations from different parts of the world have written to the authorities in Bangladesh, urging them to suspend the planned commercialisation of the BT Brinjal in the country.
Bangladesh has no expertise to take a decision on an advanced bio-technology, which is not approved in Japan, the birthplace of BT, and other Western countries. The neighbouring countries have no better experience and are also not willing to approve the BT Brinjal.
There is hardly any visible reason of ignoring global concerns and protests against BT Brinjal. Bangladesh has a duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary and principle-based approach and withhold commercial production of BT crops until independent, scientific studies are carried out on these crops.
However, brinjal should be registered under Geographical Indicator under GI Act 2012 before we lose the ownership of the crop to other countries. We should protect the originality of our own agricultural products.
The writer is a Legal Economist,
pursuing PhD at Open
University, Malaysia.
shah@banglachemical.com
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