| It's always been on top of my wish list to be a volunteer with Greenpeace. However, the organisation accepts only those aged above 21 and as I don't look very convincingly 18 either, I doubt they'll take me in. This hasn't put me off and I've been trying to be of help by keeping track of what they do and signing online petitions for their various campaigns. The latest campaign which garnered widespread publicity, especially in the subcontinent, was against the commercial introduction of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) brinjal (a type of eggplant). Indian company Mahyco, in collaboration with US biotech giant Monsanto, pushed for the introduction of genetically modified brinjal - a move which met with much resistance from activists. I attended a seminar by Dr Vandana Shiva, a leading eco-feminist and a proponent of intellectual property rights and bioethics. She deplored the disaster wreaked by Monsanto with the earlier introduction of Bt cotton, which the company said would increase the productivity as the modified genes confer pesticide resistance on the crops. The high cost of the seeds and the failure of the rains led to a high incidence of farmer suicides, with 4,500 deaths reported from a southern Indian state alone. Also, butterflies that fed on the Bt pollen were found dead, raising fears that the consumption of any Bt crop could be detrimental to human health. Genetic engineering is a landmark development in agricultural technology that has been hastily rushed into. While engineering bacteria to produce insulin that is otherwise not readily available is a smart move, tampering with our food chain is not. The cross pollination and grafting techniques that were used earlier to improve yield involved closely-related plants from the same species. In genetic engineering, however, traits from unrelated organisms are transferred onto the plants, to produce the desired result. For example, genes from chickens are used in potato to make them disease resistant and in a Cambridge research, scorpion genes were used in cabbages! The truth, however, is the fact that nobody yet has any long-term evidence of what consuming such modified cabbages can actually do to your system. Such 'breakthrough achievement' is a gamble, which may well endanger human life and poison the ecosystem. Britain's Prince Charles, who once quipped that "to get the best results, you must talk to your vegetables", has been a passionate advocate of organic food. In a speech years ago, he brought to notice that if nothing was held sacred, then there would be nothing to stop human beings from turning the entire planet into a big laboratory of life. It's disturbing that we're playing God, tampering with what is best left untouched. In 2008, the British parliament passed a bill that allowed scientists to dabble with hybrid human-animal embryos. But what good will this do to the large portion of the global population who do not have enough to eat? Some GM crops that have been cultivated in the US exhibited vulnerability to certain fungi, which was not foreseen, resulting in huge losses to the farmers. If, in the name of charity, developing nations were to be given such poorly researched seeds to cultivate, poverty and famine will never cease to exist. Once organic plants disappear with the invasion of the GM variety, there will be no way one can rectify the mistake as 'plants' as they have existed for millions of years would be a thing of the past. Not wanting to see a repeat of the Bt cotton disaster in India, Greenpeace started an innovative campaign to make the world's largest baingan bharta (eggplant curry). For each person who signs the petition, a brinjal would be added to the curry that would be later distributed to Delhi's poor. The response was overwhelming, as the initial goal of 10,000 brinjals had to be upgraded to 20,000 and it currently stands at 21,000. More good news was in store for activists and organic farming supporters everywhere, as the government finally succumbed to pressure last week and placed a moratorium on Bt brinjal. That may be a small victory, but it is significant, as exercising democratic rights doesn't just mean going to the polls but also consciously demanding that what you eat is not a plateful of toxins. ¥ Jennifer is a former Bahrain resident now studying in Mumbai. Her family still live here. |
Copyright 2010 Al Hilal Publishing & Marketing Group
'Reaping bitter harvest of genetic meddling',
Gulf Daily News, February 19, 2010, Jennifer Gnana
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