Protecting rice
Suman Sahai
Times of India, 18 November 2006
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/OPINION/Editorial/Protecting_rice/articleshow/460936.cms

Farmers belonging to the Bharatiya Kissan Union have set fire to the trial plots of a Bt rice variety belonging to Mahyco that was being field-tested in Karnal.

It turns out that the trials were being conducted in violation of biosafety standards.

Farmers on whose fields the trials were being conducted had no idea what was planted, nor did they understand the implications of genetically-engineered rice containing the toxin gene from the bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis.

Apart from the safety issue of eating genetically-engineered foods containing poison genes, there are other aspects that are particularly relevant to GE rice and India.

India is an exporter of both Basmati and non-Basmati rice and has significant trade interests in this crop. If Indian rice were to be contaminated with genetically-engineered Bt rice, which is certain to happen, traders would lose their traditional rice markets in the European Union, Africa and the Middle East.

All these regions have declared their opposition to genetically-engineered foods. That is the reason why rice exporters have appealed to government to halt further trials of GE rice.

India shouldn't take the risk of cultivating GE rice not just from the trade point of view but also because it is a major centre of origin for rice.

Mexico, which is the centre of origin and diversity for corn, has imposed a ban on not just the cultivation of GE corn, but also research in GE corn.

Mexico has taken this position in order to safeguard the natural gene pool of corn, another major staple food of the world.

India is one of the centres where rice originated. This means that the greatest number of rice and related genes are found in India.

Centres of origin are considered high-risk areas for GE crops because if foreign genes contained in the GE variety were to move into the natural gene pool, the results could be potentially catastrophic.

Scientists promoting agbiotech argue that rice is a self-pollinating crop and will not accept outside pollen and genes.

This is not true since cross-pollination is known to occur in rice and there are several studies that show that the extent of cross-pollination, depending on humidity and wind speed, can in fact be significantly high.

Studies conducted in China and Latin America have shown that gene flow between GE rice and other rice happens at rates that are high enough to cause concern about gene transfers.

One of the growing concerns about the impact of genetic engineering is gene-silencing. Experiments show that the introduction of foreign genes can cause gene-silencing in the plant that is receiving the foreign gene.

This means certain genes in the plant will become silent (non-functional) and not produce what they normally should.

Gene-silencing could have very grave implications if it were to spread to the natural gene pool by careless scientists.

Maintaining genetic diversity is crucial for the long-term survival of any crop.

When a crop variety somewhere becomes vulnerable either due to the onslaught of a disease or the soil becoming waterlogged or alkaline, scientists need to breed another variety of the crop for that region.

They do this by searching for suitable genes in related varieties and the natural gene pool. If GE rice were to contaminate the native gene pool of rice and introduce harmful features like gene-silencing or change the normal functions of other genes, it would have terrible implications for food security of the rice-eating regions of the world.

Although genetically-engineered crops and foods are being pushed into the market, there is little investment in their regulation and monitoring.

Apart from that, not enough is understood about what happens when foreign genes are abruptly pushed into the genetic material of plants and animals.

That is the reason why the biosafety process places such a premium on the precautionary principle. Essentially this says that when faced with uncertainty, it is better to be cautious and not proceed with genetic engineering.

It is not clear what advantages can come about from GE rice but it is apparent what damage can be wrought by it.

The most judicious course for India is to stay away from GE rice and protect the genetic integrity of this food crop for future generations.

The writer is convenor, Gene Campaign.

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