Monsanto trials on Bt cotton justified, say ICAR, DBT

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) director general Dr R S Paroda said India uses about half of its pesticides on cotton alone to fight the bollworm menace. "We are using 35,000 metric tonnes of pesticide for cotton, out of a total of 70,000 metric tonnes," he said.

Excessive use of pesticides and subsequent debts incurred on their purchase have led to farmers’ suicides in some states, he told newspersons last evening. Paroda said use of Bt cotton has led to a 3 to 27 per cent increase in cotton yield in countries where it is being grown.

Department of Biotechnology (DBT) secretary Dr Manju Sharma said data from field trials of the Bt cotton at 40 locations in the country will be available in February or March.

Sharma said the data would be sent to the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation (RCGM), a national committee monitoring research on genetically modified organisms, which is headed by Prof Asis Datta from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here.

If found satisfactory, it will be sent to the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), which authorises commercial use of genetically modified organisms.

Allaying fears on genetically engineered plants, Sharma said transgenic crops with desired traits offer a route to increasing food productivity.

About 45 countries globally have conducted 25,000 field trials on transgenic crops from 1986 to 1997, involving more than 60 crops, which include corn, tomato, potato, soyabean, cotton, melon, canola, sugar beet and tobacco.

Sharma said, in India, three private industries – Proagro, Mahyco and Rallis India Ltd – are working on transgenic mustard, cotton and chilli respectively.

Sharma said India would set up two or three transgenic containment facilities within six to eight months. These facilities would serve as zones for field trials and large-scale seed production of transgenic crops.

These facilities are so designed to ensure a certain required minimum distance from the transgenic crops and ordinary crops in nearby fields, and minimum inter-crop distance within the facility.

Designs of transgenic containment facilities have been obtained from the Rockefeller Foundation in the US and experts are being consulted, Sharma said.

Such facilities are proposed to be set up initially in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University South Campus and Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi; and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Madurai.

Prof Datta, who heads RCGM, clarified that India is conducting trials on transgenic crops, carefully and in steps. The Bt cotton was first tried at two locations, of 25 square metres size each, at Jalna in Maharashtra.

Only after experts were satisfied with the data, did they give permission for trials at five locations of 200 square metres size each, Datta said.

At the third stage, permission for multicentric trials at 40 locations for economic evaluation of the crop was given.

He said India has stringent guidelines on biosafety issues related to transgenic crops, and developing countries of the G-15 group are, in fact, looking to India for guidance.

The Bt gene was isolated and transferred from a bacterium bacillus thurigiensis into American cotton. The American cotton was subsequently crossed with Indian cottons to introduce the gene into native varieties.

Technology not suitable: ICAR

Terminator gene technology, which prevents plants from producing viable seeds, is not suitable for Indian farmers and conditions and seeds with the gene will not be allowed to enter India, Indian Council Of Agricultural Research (ICAR) director general Dr R S Paroda announced.

Anyone importing seeds will have to declare that it is not based on terminator technology, Paroda told journalists on Tuesday evening.

He, however, said the public should not get alarmed about the technology, as what has been patented is only the concept of terminator technology and not a product based on it.

Citing the example of nuclear energy that can be put to both constructive and destructive use, Paroda said, "You cannot put limits on research. It is a matter of your wisdom – how and where you would like to use a technology."

He pointed out several undesirable genes exist in nature. These include some plant crosses that led to lethal genes that kill the hybrid; male sterility genes that makes a male plant sterile; and dormancy genes that prolong the seed dormancy and prevent its germination.

Crop scientists have devised ways to put such genes for beneficial use, the ICAR chief said.

"One can use terminator technology for nuisance weeds like parthenium (carrot weed) or a weed like phalaris minor which destroys wheat crops," he added.