The Hindu Business Line : Plant with caution

THE GENETIC ENGINEERING Approval Committee (GEAC) deferring a decision on allowing commercial planting of ProAgro Seed Company Pvt Ltd's genetically modified mustard hybrids should not disappoint the proponents of GM technology. One, the peak sowing season for mustard is almost over and the scope for coverage would have been limited even had the GEAC given its go-ahead. Two, unlike in Monsanto's transgenic cotton, where the havoc by successive bollworm infestations had created ground pressures (backed by credible scientific opinion) for its commercialisation, there is no real emergency situation in mustard warranting immediate release of its GM versions.

More important, however, are concerns stemming from mustard being not a fibre crop, like cotton, but a food consumed by human beings. Mustard's food value is not limited to just its seed, which contributes substantially to the country's edible oil requirement, but also extends to its vegetative parts, especially the leaves (sarson-ka-saag is synonymous with Punjabi cuisine). There is a strong argument, then, for being extra careful before allowing commercial cultivation of any transgenic food crop. Apprehensions on human health and bio-safety implications (including risks from pollen transfer, howsoever negligible, to non-GM or even unrelated species) cannot be brushed aside; rather, they need to be subjected to the highest possible scientific validation and scrutiny.

What makes clearance for ProAgro's transgenic mustard hybrids more complex (relative to even Bt cotton) is that the genetic engineering involves incorporation of not one, but three alien genes. In fact, the uniqueness of the GM mustard lies in its being a hybrid in the first place. Mustard, by nature, is a self-pollinating crop, rendering it unviable to breed commercial hybrids through conventional techniques and exploit the higher yields often expressed in first-generation crosses. ProAgro has essentially `engineered' a hybridisation system by inserting foreign genes (called `barnase' and `barstar') in traditional varieties and, in the process, evolving the `male sterile' and `fertility restorer' parental lines that can be crossed. The company claims that the resultant GM hybrids have demonstrated 20-30 per cent yield advantage over the current best performers, in both dryland and well-managed, irrigated conditions. While this, no doubt, promises a major productivity breakthrough — long overdue for oilseeds — it also raises issues of health and bio-safety and, of course, the long-term implications of `tampering with natural systems'. But, then, caution should become an alibi for obstructionism and foreclosing the option of harnessing a potentially cutting-edge technology.

Permission for commercial cultivation of GM crops must be accorded on a case-to-case basis, strictly on scientific principles and not lobbying pressures. Considering the ample lead time for the next mustard sowing season, the GEAC and other agencies (particularly the ICAR and the ICMR) must conduct a rigorous, dispassionate study of the data from the field trials of the GM hybrids. If necessary, the GEAC can even order fresh trials this season to generate additional inputs.

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