India: GM crop is an opportunity, not a curse: Farm expert

GM crop is an opportunity, not a curse: Farm expert

R.S. Paroda, the sixth member of Technical Expert Committee on the genetically modified organisms, has submitted a report to the apex court with views that are diametrically opposite to the one submitted by the other five members of the panel a few months ago.

Paroda, former Director-General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research and currently Chairman of Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS), said adoption of innovations such as GM should be seen as an opportunity and not a curse. Risks, if any, have to be addressed and managed scientifically rather than to overreact and halt the very process of risk assessment.

The five members of the technical panel felt that field trials in GM crops should not be allowed till gaps in regulatory mechanism are addressed.

Paroda said the threats of environmental and biodiversity loss due to cultivation of GM crops as mentioned in the Interim Report of the committee is grossly exaggerated. “It is proven that transgenics for pest and disease control are environmentally far more benign than the current use of pesticides. Any precautionary approach on the pretext of environmental safety is misplaced,” he said.

The Supreme Court has directed that reports be shared with all the respondents of the public interest litigation filed by Aruna Rodrigues on the GMOs. The court constituted a committee with Prof. V. L. Chopra (who opted out), Imran Siddiqui, P.S. Ramakrishna, P.C. Chauhan, P. C. Kesavan and B. Sivakumar to recommend to it on a variety of aspects related to the issue.

It later added Paroda as the sixth member of the panel in November 2012, a month after it submitted its interim report.

While submitting his version, Paroda said the committee had submitted its report without his consent. “They have not even given me a copy of the report,” he said in the letter, a copy of which is available with Business Line.

Meanwhile, the Coalition for a GM-Free India alleged that Paroda faced the issue of conflict of interest. The board of TAAS, for which he acts as a chairman, comprises top executives of companies that promote GM technologies in seed. HBL

INDIA: Pawar’s 'promotion' of GM crops draws activists’ flak

Pawar’s 'promotion' of GM crops draws activists’ flak

A day after agriculture minister Sharad Pawar made a strong pitch for field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops citing the success story of Bt cotton, several anti-GM lobbyists dismissed his call for "sensible approach" to resolve food security crisis as his "mindless promotion" of GM crops. 

Pawar, quoting increase in productivity of cotton and income of farmers after introduction of Bt Cotton in the country, had on Tuesday said, "I think the time has come that we have to take a sensible approach to resolve the problem of food security." 
Responding to members' concern in the Lok Sabha over use of GM crops, he had emphasized that the farmers preferred genetically modified cotton for its higher yield, more disease-resistance and better profitability. 
Strongly reacting to Pawar's claim, the Coalition for a GM Free India, however, said, "If that was true, what accounts for the thousands of farmers in the cotton belt committing suicides year after year in the same period." 
Asking the minister "to stop his mindless promotion of GM crops", the Coalition urged MPs to question Pawar's inaccurate and biased opinions on the issue. 
Sticking to its anti-GM crop stand, Greenpeace - the INGO that has been spearheading the worldwide opposition against genetically engineered crops - pointed out that farmers had to adopt Bt Cotton because of was non-availability of non-Bt cotton seeds which were deliberately made scarce, thanks to aggressive marketing strategies of multinational companies. 
The anti-GM crop groups also referred to the reservations expressed by the Supreme Court-appointed technical expert committee (TEC), comprising scientists from various backgrounds, against genetically engineered crops to bolster their argument. 
Greenpeace said the final report of the TEC strongly recommended that India must take a precautionary approach to GM crops. "This shows that science is divided on the issue of GM crops. But, Sharad Pawar chooses to blatantly ignore scientific evidence and deny the comprehensive and detailed report of the TEC," said the INGO. 
Besides, the six-member committee has failed to make a unanimous recommendation, with one member, RS Paroda, submitting a separate report to the apex court. 
While five members of the committee have recommended an indefinite ban on field trials of GM crops, Paroda — a former director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research — has joined issue with the majority view and pitched for field trials for collecting bio-safety data under close observation of experts appointed by the agriculture ministry. 
Pawar, while pitching for field trials of GM crops, also emphasized on taking adequate precautions. He had said, "It is our considered view that Bt transgenic crop is definitely useful, but we have to take all precautions. Is there any bad effect on soil, water, environment, cattle, human beings or other crops? 
"We are ready to take all precautions. After taking all these precautions, if a particular crop and particular research is useful for the nation and the farmers, I think we have to take a positive approach". Times