Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 14 (IANS) While the debate on Bt brinjal continues in the country, scientists who arrived here to take part in a two-day seminar Monday said the genetically modified vegetable was not only safe for consumption but also more profitable for the farmers.
Scientists from across the country are taking part in the seminar which has been jointly organised by the All India Crop Biotechnology Association (AICBA), Environment Resource Research Centre (ERRC) at Thiruvananthapuram, and Foundation for Biotechnology Awareness and Education (FBAE) at Bangalore.

P. Balasubramanian of the Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, said in his research paper that Bt brinjal provides an effective environmentally friendly and economically sustainable solution to crop losses resulting from infestation.

“With Bt brinjal, the farmers will gain increased productivity and economic and health benefits while the consumers will get access to pesticide-free safer fruits…Scientists have conducted rigorous tests as per the stringent requirements of regulatory bodies to ensure that Bt brinjal is safe for human consumption,” Balasubramanian said.

Bt brinjal is compositionally identical to normal brinjal except for the additional Bt protein. Bt brinjal has been tested on a number of animal groups to show that it is not toxic to any group, scientists said.

C. Kameswara Rao of the FBAE in his research paper pointed out that the All India Coordinated Vegetable Improvement Project and the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi (ICAR), have evaluated the agronomic performance and environmental impact of Bt brinjal.

“The objective of developing Bt brinjal hybrids and varieties is to control the damage caused by the stem and fruit borers (SFB) of brinjal. Even after continuous and very heavy insecticide application, the SFBs affect 50 to 70 percent of the crop yield annually. The Bt brinjal effectively resists both these pests resulting in diverse benefits to the farmer, consumer and the country, more particularly vastly enhanced produce recovery and the avoidable use and exposure to pesticides and their residues,” Rao pointed out.

Shanthu Shantharam of Biologistics International, US, said: “Almost no issue taken up by the anti-technology activists against GM crops has any scientific basis. In fact, their campaign is mostly based on misinformation, disinformation, and outright falsehood, some imported and some concocted locally.”