The controversy surrounding Bt brinjal, the first genetically modified food crop developed in India, has turned murkier with the National Biodiversity Authority planning to launch prosecution against a seed company for alleged bio-piracy. The National Bio-diversity Authority, which regulates matters pertaining to biodiversity protection, conservation and use in India, will lodge a complaint against the alleged violators of the Biological Diversity Act for “bio-piracy in promoting Bt brinjal”.

France's attempt to ban the planting of a Monsanto strain of genetically modified maize was rejected by the EU's food safety body on Monday.

In response to scientific evidence submitted by France backing its bid to ban the GM maize, the European Food Safety Authority ruled that "there is no specific scientific evidence, in terms of risk to human and animal health or the environment" to support a ban.

Britain's first ever field trial for genetically modified (GM) wheat was vandalised over the weekend in a move likened by the leader of the country's farming union to book burning by the Nazis in the 1930s.

An intruder broke into the trial at Rothamsted Research in eastern England on Sunday and was arrested and charged with criminal damage.

A statement issued by Rothamsted said the intruder had failed to disrupt the experiment.

Biotech industry’s propaganda is false

The only transgenic crop grown in India is Bt cotton developed by injecting a toxin from a soil bacterium called Bacillus Thuringiensis [Bt] into a cotton seed through a highly sophisticated process. When planted the seed produces a highly toxic cotton plant. Its roots, stem, leaves and boll continuously secrete Bt toxin.

Community gains from genetic engineering
Genetic modification / Genetic Engineering (GM/ GE / GMO) is a technology. The entire basis for evolution is constant genetic modification by nature. With conventional breeding techniques, several hundreds of genes move from one plant / animal to another and the beneficial outcomes are selected.

New technology helps insert a single or a set of genes, which is beneficial and can be done in a much shorter time. Drug and crop developers have used this technology to come up with new drugs,

In the absence of any viable regulatory mechanism for gene technology, the Supr-eme Court has set up a six-member expert committee to monitor field trials on certain crops using genetically-modified organisms. The panel. which has three months to submit its rep-ort, will ensure that the open tests do not have any adverse impact on the traditional crops, flora and fauna due to the release of harmful GMOs into the atmosphere.

Genetically Modified (GM) seeds are the need of the hour to bolster farm production in the face of rising demand, and a way to match productivity of countries such as China and Vietnam, according to food scientists and experts here. With GM crops seen with suspicion by most, the scientists said there is an inherent lack of awareness about its advantages among people.

Emphasising the need to adopt technical know-how, Dr N. Sesikiran, director, National Institute of Nutrition, said, “Nature has evolved by continuous genetic modification.

The growing cultivation of Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) cotton, especially in Punjab, has decreased the area under wheat and sugarcane cultivation due to relatively longer germination period of BT cotton.

"BT cotton is gaining popularity in Punjab and its growing cultivation is having a negative impact on other crops particularly wheat and sugarcane because of long germination period of BT cotton.

Normal cotton takes about six months to BT cotton's 10 months", an official source told Business Recorder at National Agriculture Research Council (NARC).