Nowadays BT Brinjal has been in center stage of controversy. A traditional crop in India, Brinjal is now the subject of a raging debate on genetically modified food. India is one of the world's largest brinjal producers after china. Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (M/s Mahyco) has developed Bt Brinjal in India. For an advanced stage of field trials in open conditions anywhere in the world, GM Brinjal has not been released yet. It was officially announced by the government of India On February 9, 2010 that it wants some more time to release Bt brinjal. “There is no over-riding urgency to introduce Bt Brinjal in India” said by the Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. The information of BT Brinjal Controversy: India says no to BT Brinjal for now is mentioned below.
What is BT Brinjal?
Bt Brinjal is a transgenic brinjal created by inserting a gene (Cry 1Ac) from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) into Brinjal. The insertion of the gene into the Brinjal cell in young cotyledons has been done through an Agro bacterium mediated vector, along with other genes like promoters, markers etc. This is said to give the Brinjal plant resistance against lepidopteron insects like the Brinjal Fruit and Shoot Borer and Fruit Borer. The insect's digestive processes are disrupted, ultimately resulting in its death, upon ingestion of the Bt toxin.
How it effect on Health?
Bt brinjal appears to have 15 percent less calories and different alkaloid content compared to non GM brinjal. It contains 16 to 17 mg/kg Bt insecticide toxin. When fed to animals, effects were observed on blood chemistry with significant differences according to the sex of the animal or period of measurement. Other effects were on blood clotting time, total bilirubin, and alkaline phosphate in goats and rabbits.
Rats fed Bt brinjal had diarrhoea, increased water consumption; decrease in liver weight, and liver to body weight. Feed intake was modified in broiler chickens.
Bt brinjal produces a protein in the vegetable cells that induce antibiotic resistance. This is recognized as a major health problem and is inappropriate for commercial use. It may also indicate that old GM technology is being used as the technology has already moved on from antibiotic resistance marker genes.
Changes in lactating cows were observed in increased weight gain, intake of more dry roughage matter and milk production up by 10 to 14 percent as if they were treated by a hormone.
BT Brinjal Controversy
The main causes of BT Brinjal Controversy are mixed views on BT brinjal. The use of pesticide Bacillus thuringiensis can be harm human as there is no hundred percent safety has been claimed by the scientists that believes some NGOs and other organizations. But some experts believe that the Bacillus thuringiensis only kills bugs and it will not affect humans.
The safety concerns are attached with the BT brinjal, after the failure of genetically modified cotton seeds. Some environmental experts said that the use of genetically modified BT brinjal could be fatal on rats and demanded that before experimenting it on humans, it should be better to go under through research. Several questions remain unanswered like why government is in hurry to give nod to BT brinjal for commercial use? It should not be experimented on Indians first.
India says no to BT Brinjal for now
After BT Brinjal Controversy BT brinjal is banned in India. There are many potential health hazards in foods bio-engineered in this manner according to several studies on Bt crops in particular and GM crops in general. A current study from Madhya Pradesh in India shows undesirable human health impacts in farm and factory workers with allergies caused by Bt Cotton, through Bt crops. There was also reported Itching skin, eruptions on the body, swollen faces etc, correlated with levels of exposure to Bt Cotton. In the front of the campaign opposing the GM variety of Brinjal is Greanpeace.
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