India agri scientists welcome GEAC’s decision to allow confined field trials of Bt Brinjal, move to step up farm biotech research

In a move which may be in sync with the government’s priority to focus on technological interventions in the farm sector and pursuit of its 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat' (self-reliant India) goal, the latest decision of the central regulator to allow biosafety field trials of indigenously developed Bt Brinjal will step up scientific research in the field of genetically modified (GM) technology in the country.

Though this technology in crop improvement has long been resisted by certain stakeholders and groups, including those linked with the RSS, on safety issues, India's eminent farm scientists believe that it would be unfair to judge transgenic crops without letting their biosafety field trials in past so many years.

Calling the decision to allow field trials of new varieties of Bt Brinjal a “significant development and an appropriate step forward”, India’s veteran agriculture scientist, C D Mayee, said, “No agriculture technology can be recommended unless we allow field trials”.

The central regulator – Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee(GEAC) – has recently allowed confined field trials of these two new transgenic varieties of indigenously developed Bt Brinjal in eight states – Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and West Bengal -- during 2020-23. Biosafety safety report of GM crops’ field trials is a mandatory requirement for applying for commercial release in future.

Mayee, former director of the Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR) Nagpur, is, however, worried over the clause that the technology developers will have to seek permission of each state government for conducting the biosafety field trials of Bt Brinjal.

“It is yet another way of telling no, but only to show that look we are ready for advances of science to be adopted in agriculture.

What can we do, if states are reluctant when agriculture is the state subject? It is another way of dilly-dallying,” Mayee said.

“Confined field testing is essential for evaluation and ensuring the biosafety of the GM crops which are faced with opposition from some sections of the society, though widely accepted by the farmers and consumers. Bangladesh is already cultivating and consuming Bt-Brinjal for the last four years without any negative impact on public health and environment,” said another scientist, Nagendra Kumar Singh, national professor, National Institute for Plant Biotechnology(NIPB), which developed the new varieties of Bt Brinjal.

Asked about the move on confined field trials, a senior scientist with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) said,“The approach of the GEAC in allowing field trials for biosafety under confined field trials is like the trials under quarantine containments.”

He said, “Biosafety is being established through correct procedures. If it proves to be risky, the GEAC will not allow it to be released in the environment. Till that time if the trial is monitored as per protocol, it is neither going to harm the environment (including soil & native brinjal) nor health of humans & animals. Testing is essential before coming to any conclusion.”

Many other farm scientists of the ICAR said of late both scientists and the students were losing interest in key areas of agricultural research due to uncertainty about the field testing and commercialisation of biotech crops.

Singh said, “The decision by the GEAC will encourage Indian scientists to work harder to develop Biotech products in India through public-private partnership and reduce our dependence on the multinational seed companies for our seeds. It is necessary for controlling the cost of seed by providing effective competition in the Biotech seed sector and an important step towards self-reliance in the high-tech Agricultural Biotechnology sector for building an Atma Nirbhar Bharat.”

Currently, Bt Cotton is the only GM crop which is allowed for commercial cultivation in India. Though its next version, Herbicide Tolerant Bt (HtBT) Cotton, has not yet been approved for cultivation in the country, farmers in Maharashtra and a couple of other cotton-growing states have been cultivating it by defying existing ban on unapproved variety of transgenic cotton.