BT-BRINJAL

India is the place of origin of Brinjal or egg plant.It is been cultivated in India for the last 4000 years.It is grown all over India around the year.It accounts for all most 10% of the total vegetable produced in India.

• Bt.Brinjal is the genetically modified form of Brinjal (Solanum Melongena)in which a foreign gene cry1AC obtained from the soil bacteria Bacillus Thuringiensis is inserted to make it pest resistant against the fruit and shoot borer insects.

•  Bt Brinjal was developed by ABSP-II (Agricutural Biotechnology Support Project), a consortium of public and private sector institutions funded by the United States Agency for International Development and  Cornell University. It was formed to develop and commercialize bio-engineered products in developing countries like India.It is marketed by MAHYCO in India.

• The GEAC(Genetic Engineering Approval Committee) had in Oct 2009 approved commercial cultivation of bt brinjal.As it would reduce the farmer's dependance on pesticide and ensure better yeild.

CLAIMS by the developers:

• It is claimed that the bt variety of brinjal would reduce the pesticide use by 80% due to its inbuilt tolerance.This will address the human health problems related to pesticides.
• It also reduces the damage to the crop to 5-20% whereas the damage caused by the fruit and shoot borer to a native variety was between 50-60%.
• Due to its in built tolerance it would increase the yield at the same time reduce the use of pesticides and eventually increase the income for the cultivators.
• It is also claimed that the cry1AC gene is an insecticidal protein which breaks down when cooked and is not activated in the acidic medium of the stomach.Thus addressing all concerns related to health.

Argument against Bt Brinjal:

• There has not been a risk assessment test for this crop in the Indian context.
• Bt cotton cultivated in various parts of the county have failed.This can also be a case with bt brinjal.
• In the long run the target pest may develop resistance to the crop , leading to a high intensity crop failure in future.In India bio safety testing does not require studying medium and long term impact of GM technology.
• Small intestine is alkaline and can activate the cry1AC endotoxin bringing about its toxic effect by its absorption.
• Without safeguards, it is possible for a crop variety to benefit from local resources and yet return no benefit to the community, leading to corporate control over food crops.
• It was claimed by a Karnataka based NGO that MONSANTO did not take permission required by law when using genetic material from local varieties of brinjal this can destroy our indigenous varieties of brinjal. 
  .Due to wide opposition from various environmentalists,farmers and NGOs a moratorium was put on the commercial release of bt brinjal by GOI in Feb 2010.  

India is one of the 12 mega biodiversity countries in the world and it needs to protect this biodiversity while ensuring commercialisation of GM products. Without safeguards, a GM crop variety could dominate, leading to corporate control over food crops. Also, communities should get a share in benefits arising from the use of biological resources and knowledge.

In October 2013 Bangladesh approved the commercial cultivation of bt brinjal.It is the first county in south Asia to cultivate a GM food crop and the 29th in the world to grow GM crops.The National Committee on Biosafety(NCB) the regulatory body for GM crops in Bangladesh has approved four varieties of bt brinjal for limited scale cultivation.This has raised concerns in India and the environmentalists have urged the government to safeguard the food and seed supply along with biodiversity.

India has to explore all options under the Cartagena protocol to ensure Bangladesh takes all measures to see that our biodiversity is protected from any trans border movement of GM crops.