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Journalism of Courage
In January this year, the Government of India announced the Plant Genome Research Road Map — a six-year plan to develop new genetically-engineered or genetically-modified crops. Though self-sufficient today, in 15 years, we will need to import grain, pulses, fruits and vegetables to feed our growing population. Under this roadmap, by 2010, scientists will have developed GM crops with increased yield, improved nutrition, better taste and shelf life as well as greater resistance to pests, drought and salinity.
Genetic Modification (GM) is a revolutionary technology that allows scientists to change the characteristics of living organisms, including plants. Genes can now be transferred from one organism to another — even between those that cannot breed in nature. Thus, genes from humans have been put into mice, from fish into tomatoes and so on. Today, we have oranges that are rich in many vitamins, tomatoes with more flavour and cancer-fighting substances, rice varieties high in vitamin A and bananas that deliver vaccines. Bio-engineering firms are also developing salmon, trout and catfish that grow several times faster and larger in size. Six countries — US, Argentina, China, Canada, Brazil and South Africa — are leading growers of GM crops and grow 99 per cent of the world’s GM crops. Soya is the most commonly planted GM crop. GM maize, cotton and canola are the other most grown GM crops. Within the next five years, 10 million farmers in 25 or more countries will plant 100 million hectares of GM crops.
In the US, two-thirds of all processed foods, from cookies to potato chips to baby food, contain GM ingredients. However, application of GM technology to agriculture and food production has raised a swarm of controversies. While private sector biotech companies promoting GM remain firmly convinced of the safety of GM produce, scientists are sceptical. Safety studies conducted by the biotech industry are often dismissed by critics as superficial and designed to avoid finding problems. Many people are calling these new GM foods ‘Frankenstein foods’.
One of the major health concerns is that these GM foods may cause allergies. Soon after GM soya was introduced to the UK, allergies skyrocketed by 50 per cent. A gene from a Brazil nut inserted into GM soyabeans made the soya allergenic to those who normally react to Brazil nuts. Such allergies could be fatal if the allergenic peanut genes were transferred into another food crop. The only human feeding study ever conducted showed that the gene inserted into soyabeans transferred out of food into the DNA of the human gut bacteria. This means that bacteria inside our intestines — equipped with this foreign gene — may continue to produce the allergenic/toxic protein long after we give up eating the GM food. Taking another example, GM corn contains a gene that produces pesticide. If this gene were to transfer from the corn into our gut bacteria, it could transform our intestinal flora into living pesticide factories. Recently in the Philippines, 39 people living next to a field growing GM corn developed skin, intestinal, and respiratory reactions while the corn was pollinating. Tests of their blood also showed an immune response to the pesticide. If preliminary results were confirmed, it would be one of the first recorded cases of serious health problems associated with GM crops.
Nearly all GM foods contain a promoter that keeps the foreign gene turned on permanently. While biotech advocates claim that the promoter is stable and will not function in mammals (including humans), recent studies in Netherlands show that this promoter might unintentionally switch on other genes and cause an overproduction of allergens, toxins, carcinogens, or anti-nutrients. Moreover, the promoter might also create a growth factor that could result in excessive cell growth — a potentially pre-cancerous condition. GM crops include a gene for antibiotic resistance. If these genes jump from GM foods to intestinal bacteria, new antibiotic-resistant diseases may emerge. Consumption of GM foods is a very new phenomenon. Initial findings show the potential hazards of GM crops to human health. It is possible that the long-term impact on health have not shown up yet. Preliminary results indicate an urgent need to investigate safety aspects of GM crops.
In India, although Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has so far approved only GM cotton, almost 22 GM plants are being tested by different organisations, both government as well as private. Tests are ongoing for maize and rice, pulses, fruits, vegetables (brinjal, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, etc), oilseeds (mustard, castor etc) and medicinal plants. India has already developed a potato genetically modified to produce increased protein. Experiments are also underway on several species of fish. The Indian Council of Medical Research — the country’s foremost institution of nutrition — advocates a ‘‘complete risk assessment’’ of all GM foods.
Scientists and researchers need to come forward and educate the people about the harmful and useful aspects of GM foods. Clear and precise labeling of GM foods should be made mandatory, both at the level of the crop and farm produce as also when these are used in other processed products. Extra caution is needed before wide-scale cultivation of GM crops goes any further.
The writer is a nutrition & health researcher.
