Expanding the food chain

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: Notwithstanding great promises been offered by modern technology involving genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to make a significant contribution to human mankind, skeptics are vehement in their criticism. Stepping aside the enormous benefits that this new knowledge-intensive technology has in store for agriculture, medicine and industry, they cite the potential risks with respect to human health, environment and biological diversity.

Closer home, some even hold it responsible for the spate of suicides by farmers, sudden death of birds, cows, sheep and goats, etc, and non-effectiveness of Bt cotton, the only transgenic crop approved for commercial cultivation here. While proponents of modern biotechnology strongly dispel such false claims made by a section of the society, they share the concerns on the perceived risks to human health, environment and biological diversity.

For a layman, common GMOs include agricultural crops that have been genetically modified for greater productivity or for resistance to pests or diseases. For instance, Bt cotton, which incorporates a gene from a bacterium Bacillus thuriengiensis effective against the American Bollworm, a major pest on cotton. GMOs form the basis of a range of products and commodities—processed, canned and preserved foods.

In order to keep pace with the developments in the field of biotechnology as well as associated safety concerns, capacity building for various stakeholders becomes important. Keeping this in view, the ministry of environment and forests is implementing a Global Environment Facility-World Bank (GEF-WB) project for capacity building on safety, focusing on institutional strengthening, information dissemination and training. High on the agenda is to build a national biosafety framework to ensure the safe use of GMOs and associated products, says DD Verma, joint secretary and project director, ministry of environment and forests. This will ensure proper regulation, control and management of GM crops.

Accordingly, four institutions are been strengthened with technical and financial assistance from the United Nations (UN) and ministry of environment and forests. These are the Central Food Technological Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi, National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology (NRCPB), New Delhi and GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar. These centres will focus on operational modalities, tools, mechanisms and work programmes, not only to bring the GM crops from the confines of the agricultural laboratories to the crop fields, but also to address the concerns of the environmentalists.