Clearing the wool

India has finally conquered its pathological fear of the unknown and taken a first, firm step up the spiral staircase of the transgenic revolution. Farmers will now be permitted to sow genetically modified cotton seeds. It8217;s been a long, tortuous road for them. For years, they have been denied a technology their counterparts in the US and China have embraced with immense personal benefit: higher yields, guarantees against the dreaded boll worm, dramatically reduced pesticide bills. Instead, they had to take stock of rising suicides amongst their ilk as boll worm attacks became more lethal, pesticide dependence escalated, and the government dithered on allowing them to grow Bt cotton. A year after it withheld permission for commercial release of Bt cotton seeds, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee has thankfully rectified this anomaly.

What is it about biotechnology that scares us so? Now that large acreages will in all probability be given over to Bt cotton, farmers are entitled to demand that other genetically modified crops be assessed 8212; through a process both fast and transparent. Cotton is just one among many crops 8212; maize, soyabean, tomato, etc 8212; that account for the 56.2 million hectares of GM plantations around the world. There are three main scientific concerns. One, since alien DNA is imported into seeds, there is a danger of allergic reactions. Two, herbicide-resistant crops could transfer genes to weeds nearby, leading to superweeds impossible to control. Three, pesticide-resistance too could be a transient advantage. Other apprehensions routinely voiced 8212; by anti-GM activists ranging from Prince Charles to the peripatetic anti-globalisation brigade 8212; are less serious: from warnings about meddling in 8216;8216;the realm of God8217;8217; to preposterous claims that if the imported gene comes from a living being, the crop would no longer be fit for vegetarians.

It is important to remember that biotechnology is far from an exact science. So either one waits eternally for a definitive balancesheet to come in, a precise evaluation of proven long-term benefits and dangers 8212; or one undertakes field trials and makes an evaluation based on them. Countries with large agricultural tracts like the US which has a two-thirds share of total global production of GM crops, China, South Africa and Australia have wisely chosen the second alternative. No technological revolution lasts for ever. More than three decades after India defied Paul Ehrlich8217;s 1969 prophecy that it would face fatal food shortages by the mid-1970s by adopting hybrid crops, those huge annual increases in agricultural production are giving way to stagnation. Another green revolution is now at hand. Fuzzy Luddite notions must not hold India back.