The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) of the government the other day came up with an explanation that there is no reason to ‘lend ear to a propaganda’ that bt bringal produced in Bangladesh in a limited way would be exported now.
The cause of allaying the apprehension is a concern expressed from no less an entity than a United Kingdom based organization – GM Freeze – that the transgenic crop allowed for limited cultivation might find its way to European markets.According to a report published in a section of the media GM Freeze director Helena Paul warned in an e-mail to the EPB that if BT Brinjal produced in Bangladesh found its way to Europe, the continent’s market may be closed for vegetable exports from Bangladesh in future.
EPB’s vice-chairman Subhasis Basu has been quoted to have said to journalists that Bangladesh produces 30 varieties of Brinjal and one such variety has been genetically modified by injecting a specific type of bacteria, Baccilus Thuringiensis.
“But we are only cultivating this genetically modified Brinjal in a limited way and there are no plans to export any of that anywhere in the world, let alone Europe,” Basu told journalists.
The alarm however was raised much before from our neighbourhood by Indian newspapers which not only reported with concern that the transgenic crop not allowed for cultivation in their country has found an easy breeding ground in Bangladesh, and alerted their authorities to make sure these brinjals did not enter the Indian market.
A report published in October in businessline, an outlet of the Madras (Chennai)-based The Hindu newspaper says, the Bt brinjal varieties approved for commercial cultivation by Bangladesh’s National Committee on Biosafety (NCB) are based on technology developed and transferred by Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Pvt Ltd (Mahyco). Commercialisation of Bt brinjal in India was halted by a ‘moratorium’ imposed by former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
Although Subhasis Basu believes that Bangladesh is strictly observing the regulations prevalent in countries where its products are exported to and that “There is no question of violating these regulations,” because of this informed apprehension from vegetable importing countries, at stake is Bangladesh’s fledging vegetables exports.
EPB figures show: Vegetables export from Bangladesh fetched $ 110 million in 2013, as against $ 80 million earned the year before. Export earning from this sector is expected to reach some $130 million this year.
The problem facing the promising export sector is not merely the alarms expressed from importing countries and from neighbouring India where bt bringial cultivation has not been permitted, but from a lack of understanding of the depth of the fear expressed from abroad.
Export Promotion Bureau sources have the impression that some competitors of Bangladesh vegetables exports might have spread the rumour as the local produces were giving stiff competition in international markets. Europe has not permitted the cultivation of genetically modified crops. India and Philippines have done research on genetically modified brinjals but have not permitted their cultivation. Experts say they fear mutagenic effects of genetically modified crops on humans plus pollution of other crops grown near bt brinjal fields.
The Indian news media which have covered the gm debate for about a decade have quoted their scientists to have expressed the fear that bt brinjal grown in Bangladesh might find its way to India through the porous border that exists between the two countries.
The NCB has approved four Bt brinjal varieties developed by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), incorporating Mahyco’s proprietary gene construct technology. Mahyco had transferred its Bt brinjal technology to BARI in 2005-06 through a USAID-funded and Cornell University-managed ‘Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project’.
Bt brinjal contains a foreign ‘Cry1Ac’ gene derived from a soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt. This gene synthesises a protein toxic to the fruit and shoot borer (FSB) pest. Its incorporation gives brinjal a ‘built-in’ resistance to FSB, reducing the need for spraying pesticides.
Mahyco sourced the ‘cry1Ac’ gene construct for its Bt brinjal from Monsanto, the US life-sciences major, which also has a 26 per cent stake in the former. But the entire transformation, which means fitting the gene construct in the right place of the brinjal genome, was done at Mahyco’s research centre at Jalna, Maharashtra. The ownership of the entire ‘event’ as such vests with Mahyco.
“It is Indian technology that has seen the light of the day in Bangladesh,” said Bhagirath Chowdhary, India representative of the GM lobby group, International Service for Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications or ISAAA.
“We are yet to see the details. .. it will be good for the farmers of Bangladesh, as it will minimise the use of pesticides to a great extent,” said Appemane Subbarao, a Senior Vice-President at Mahyco.
However, the anti-GM lobby believes that the latest development in Bangladesh does not augur well for India. It poses a threat to the entire Indo-China region, which is considered the centre of origin and diversity of this vegetable, said Neha Saigal, Sustainable Agriculture Campaigner, Greenpeace India.
The Indian Supreme Court is hearing a petition on allowing even field-trials of genetically modified (GM) food crops in the country. In Bangladesh bt brinjals have already started coming to markets. The message from GM Freeze, UK, should be an eye-opener for our decision-makers and the National Committee on Biosafety to take extra precaution that biodiversity on this land is not unnecessarily disturbed by thoughtless hasty decisions, and does not jeopardize relations with other countries.
