Modified brinjal found okay

An expert committee has termed sound all scientific findings concerning the country’s first genetically modified (GM) crop — Bt Brinjal — and is now preparing its review report on those for forwarding it to the agriculture ministry, officials said yesterday.On receipt of the experts’ report, the National Technical Committee for Crop Biotechnology (NTCCB), headed by the agriculture secretary, would look into the report and then send it to the National Committee on Biosafety (NCB) for final approval.Amidst concerns by green groups over release of GM crops inBangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was also apprised of the Bt Brinjal developments on Tuesday last, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury told The Daily Star yesterday.When the issue was raised at a meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council chaired by the premier, she encouraged the agro-scientists to pursue research on better crop varieties.Bt Brinjal is infused with pest-resistant genes that will see a drastic fall in the use of harmful pesticides in the crop, said scientists, who developed the variety at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI).On July 15, the BARI applied to the NTCCB seeking approval of Bt Brinjal, and the NTCCB referred it to the expert committee for review.The committee at a meeting on Tuesday last reviewed the reports provided by BARI. “According to the reports we reviewed, the Bt Gene has been expressed well in our home-grown brinjals and results have been found to be homogeneous,” said Prof Rakha Hari Sarker, a member of the committee.Rakha Hari, who teaches botany at Dhaka University (DU), also said that Bt Brinjal was found to be nutritionally okay, and a toxicological report was also placed at the meeting.Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (Barc) Dr Wais Kabir, who chaired the meeting, told this correspondent yesterday that they would forward their report to the NTCCB in a day or two.While the nutritional tests were carried out at the DU, the toxicological tests were done in internationally accredited labs in India, officials said.These developments are taking place amidst an uproar by a section of anti-GM activists, who fear that release of Bt Brinjal would eliminate local brinjal varieties, and farmers would have to buy the seeds from multinational companies.Both the agriculture minister and BARI Director General Dr Md Rafiqul Islam Mondal, however, clarified it to The Daily Star that farmers would be able to preserve and use their own seeds in growing Bt Brinjal since it is not a hybrid and there is no possibility of losing biodiversity.Unconvinced yet, two green groups took the issue to the High Court on July 30 and the HC asked the petitioners and the government to submit scientific reports, if there is any, on whether Bt brinjal is harmful to public health and the environment.Rafiqul Islam Mondal said they have already submitted the scientific reports to their counsels for submission to the HC on September 19.BARI scientists engineered brinjal, one of the country’s most consumed vegetables, by inserting a crystal protein gene (Cry1Ac) taken from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, known as Bt, back in 2005.It took seven years to complete greenhouse trials and open-field trials of Bt Brinjal in various agro-ecological zones in the country. Bt gene insertion in brinjal makes it resistant to fruit and shoot borer (FSB) that causes 50 to 70 percent loss of brinjal yield.A major factor behind Bt Brinjal’s development was to help farmers save money they spend on pesticides for curbing FSB infestation.Unrestrained spraying of chemical pesticides adversely affects the health of farmers and workers. Pesticide residues from a concentrated use tend to remain for a longer period in vegetables, and ultimately affect the health of consumers.Farmers are found to apply pesticides up to 80 times in a cropping season of brinjal against a recommended dose of 25, making the vegetable highly toxic.Once the crop is released, Bangladesh will join a group of 28 countries that grow GM crops. Though it will be the country’s first home-grown GM crop, consumers in the country have long been exposed to GM food through consumption of imported GM soybean oil.GM crops are derived from traditional plant varieties by altering their genetic make-up in laboratories for faster growth, resistance to pests, production of extra nutrients, or any other beneficial purpose. This is usually done by adding one or more genes to a plant’s genome using genetic engineering techniques.