Independent studies refute GMO safety claims

Serious concern about Bt-brinjal is justified given that the same marker gene used in Bt-cotton, promoted by the same company, is used in the modified eggplant.

"In an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Janata Party (S) Parliamentary Party leader M.P. Veerendrakumar has expressed concern at the move to introduce Bt brinjal in the country.

"According to the letter, released here on Thursday, genetically modified crops are widely believed to have had adverse impacts on people, livestock and the environment. He quoted scientists in support of his argument that Bt brinjal should not be introduced.

"He said a number of similar genetically modified crops introduced earlier, within and outside of the country, had been reported to have had harmful effects on health and economy....

"'The aad marker gene and the nptll marker gene used in Bt brinjal are antibiotic-resistant,' he said." 

The Hindu. (emphasis added)

The former Union Minister said that in his opinion the data put out by the promoters of the new brinjal variety regarding the advantages of Bt seeds were unreliable as "these had been proved to be false with respect to Bt cotton". Mr. Veerendrakumar said "the haste with which Bt brinjal is going to be introduced is of much concern, especially when there is absolutely no crisis in the production of brinjal and there are reliable and successful pest management approaches that could be adopted by India's farmers to grow the crop.''

Quoting scientists, Mr. Veerendrakumar said that "in the light of the opinion expressed by well known experts about the dangers arising from genetically modified crops, the green signal shown by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) for field trials to Mahyo-Monsanto enabling them to commercially launch the world's first Bt brinjal in 2007, becomes a recipe for disaster of immense magnitude".

He said India should learn lessons from the experience of Hawai in launching a commercialised GM fruit — papaya. That virus-resistant papaya variety was introduced in Hawai in 1998, but the GM variety soon turned out to be "more devastating than the virus" as traditional buyers of Hawaiian papayas rejected the new variety.

Mr. Veerendrakumar appealed to the Prime Minister to immediately effect a comprehensive ban on all GM field trials since "GM crops had detrimental effects on agricultural, economic, health and ecological fronts."

An independent study by French scientist Gilles-Eric Seralini released in January 2009 has strengthened their claims, finding that Bt brinjal produces a protein that could induce resistance to the widely-used antibiotic kanamycin. Professor Seralini also noted “numerous significant differences” in feeding trials with non-Bt controls — for instance, in goats fed with Bt brinjal, the time taken to produce the hormone prothrombin was modified, and in rabbits, a reduction in consumption was observed.