Finally, India?s science academies have broken their silence and said that GM crops should be an important part of technology mix, which is crucially needed to improve India?s agriculture. The report entitled Inter-Academy Report on GM Crops was submitted to the Union government earlier this week.

The combined wisdom of the six academies of sciences in the country was long time coming. It is this kind of scientific advice (voice) that was missing from the vexed GM debate in the country for too long. This report nails all the lies and scare propaganda of the anti-GM lobby.

The safety and utility of GM crops technology should not be a topic of endless discussions and debates any longer. It is hoped that the Supreme Court takes notice of this report and dismisses all the frivolous cases against GM crops and GEAC.

Now that the highest scientific bodies have had their say, it should be easy for the decision-makers, policymakers and administrators to take firm decisions, and not dither about GM crops. As far as the social and economic risks and benefits are concerned?the holy grail of NGOs?let the growers and consumers decide. It is only the market place that always decides the fate of goods and services provided by technology-driven industries.

The report makes it clear that there is nothing that is associated with GM crops that raises safety questions and urges the government to approve Bt brinjal and other GM crops based on scientific assessment. The report points out that India is not the centre of brinjal?s origin but is the secondary centre of its diversity.

It also makes it clear that with GM crops, there are no reasons to believe that they will affect biodiversity, another bogey of many opponents. It recommends that Bt brinjal be approved forthwith without waiting for the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India to come into effect, which might take a few more years.

Many of us who have supported the GM crops technology for decades always knew the scientific basis of our beliefs. In fact, there is not even a single respected and recognised scientific body in the world that has not endorsed GM crops. Yes, there are some fringe ?scientific? groups, created by the anti-GM lobby just to oppose GM crops that try to pass themselves off as legitimate scientific bodies.

Such fringe groups are neither mainstream nor are recognised by any international scientific body. They just carry a veneer of being ?professional? scientific bodies, but in fact, they are bogus scientific organisations created by the anti-GM lobbies around the world just to provide a veneer of scientific credibility.

Even in India, there are groups like the ?Biosafety Committee? of the GM-Free India campaign and a motley group of physicians of Indian systems of medicine who never existed until the anti-Bt brinjal movement created it out of thin air. If only the government had consulted the academies early on, and if only these scientific academies had come forth with their own advisory much earlier, the useless debates about GM crops would not have come to this pass.

The anti-GM lobby has already started discrediting this report on charges of baseless ?plagiarism? as its wont and believes that the media sees through these machinations this time.

The author is executive director, Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises?Agriculture Group (ABLE-AG)

?shanthu.shantharam@ableindia.org

Pushpa M Bhargava

A report on GM crops produced by India?s six science academies reminded me of the Commonwealth Games fiasco. In the latter, we have evidence of financial corruption. The former is a product of massive intellectual corruption where scientists have compromised on their academic integrity.

The report is an eyewash. It was already decided by multinational seed companies, supported by both the US and the Indian governments, as to what the conclusions of the report would be. That is why, in spite of the recognition by all the six academies that a significant part of the report, on the basis of which the conclusions were arrived at, was plagiarised from the writings of unsubstantiated pro-GM lobby, my esteemed friend, the biophysicist K Vijayan, has said that the main recommendations of the report are unlikely to change even if the report is rewritten.

A scientific report should indicate the source of its information. However, not a single reference is given in the report. In fact, virtually all the data given in the report is either wrong or misleading. For example, in support of GM crops, it is mentioned that some 25 countries are growing them. Which countries? And why is it not mentioned that (a) over two-thirds of GM crops are grown in just four countries; (b) some 180 countries (including Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Greece to name a few) do not permit GM crops; (c) in Europe, products of all GM crops such as food have to be labelled if they have more than 0.9% of GM material; (d) in India, a dozen or more states have put a ban on Bt brinjal; (e) it is possible that increase in health problems may be due to a parallel increase in the consumption of GM food material.

The report gives the impression that there is no opposition to GM crops anywhere. The fact is even in the few countries in which they are permitted, there is an exponentially growing opposition to GM crops based on new and highly reliable data.

GM business in India started with Monsanto, which is the most important player in the GM roulette today. But in the report, Monsanto is not mentioned anywhere. It is incredible that in a report of all the science academies put together there is no mention even of one study (out of hundreds published in some of the world?s best-known journals by well-known scientists from some of the world?s most renowned research institutions) on adverse effects of GM crops on health, agriculture and environment.

The report vindicates my decision of January 1, 1994, to resign from the fellowship of all the three non-specialised science academies (Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Sciences, India) that signed this report for I had found these academies undemocratic, socially and intellectually sterile, and no more than instruments of personal gratification. They have never taken a stand on any of the important issues. Even in the present case, unlike the US National Academy of Sciences or the Royal Society of London that put out reports on GM crops on their own, our academies had to be asked by a minister to prepare a report.

With this report, the time has come to ask the question: What will the nation lose if we were to wind up the three non-specialised science academies? The answer a while ago would have been ?nothing?. The answer today will be that the nation will gain if these academies are dismantled. But the question is: would anyone in the upper echelons of power want to do it and, if so, have the courage to do it?

?The author is former and founder director, CCMB, Hyderabad and former member, National Security Advisory Board bhargava.pm@gmail.com