GM Crops as Solution to Food Shortages in India
Incorporating Science into Policy Guidelines
While rates of infection are decline in cities of recent COVID-19 outbreaks such as New York and London, the socioeconomic implications of lockdowns enforced around the world are only just beginning to hit. In countries like India especially, vulnerable communities have been deprived of daily income for months. Government and non-profit organizations are working to address food shortages but the problem may soon be amplified natural disasters such as a cyclone in West Bengal and locusts are swarming in Rajasthan. There are several solutions that can be deployed from distributing food rations to vitamin fortification of grains but in order to tackle the issue of food production itself, it is necessary to address the regulatory framework surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops.
Understanding the Technology
There has been historical resistance to GM crops in India and the only one approved is BT cotton. The regulatory framework in agriculture appears frozen despite examples like high-yield wheat from Mexico, optimized through natural selection, enabling India’s Green Revolution in the 1960s. Crops developed through the process of mutagenesis, where mutations are introduced through radiation and chemicals, are permitted in India with examples ranging from varieties of mung bean to the staple of rice. However, targeted gene editing technology such as recombinant DNA or CRISPR continue to fall under strict regulation. Transgenic crops are created by inserting a gene for a trait such as drought tolerance, pest resistance or higher yield through a strand of recombinant DNA that inserts itself into genome of the plant. This technique requires that the plants produced are screened afterwards as the gene of interest may be inserted in some seeds but not others. Newer CRISPR technology allows direct editing of genome which improves specificity of the code alteration. BT brinjal, which has resistance to a pest called the fruit and shoot borer, was developed using recombinant DNA by a subsidiary of Monsanto based in Maharashtra called Mahyco. Though cultivated in Bangladesh, BT brinjal is blocked from commercial release in India along with a variety of mustard seeds from Delhi University’s Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants, which produce 25–30% more yield and could lower India’s need for import of edible oil.
Root of the Opposition
Those who lead the outcry against GM crops cite concerns of health hazards and effects on environmental biodiversity. There were reports of histological changes in animals consuming GM products as well as assertions of links to cancers and other diseases from anti-GMO groups but analysis of over 100 research studies found no toxic effects from GM food. As further evidence, a report comparing data on livestock in the US from 1983 to 1996, prior to the introduction of GM crops, to livestock for 1997 to 2011, a decade after widespread GM crop-feed use, actually showed no difference in the health or productivity of the 100 billion animals included over the course of the analysis.
In terms of impact on biodiversity, a review of 700 publications by a cross-disciplinary committee in 2016 found that use of GM crops increases the variety in species of wild plants and insect types. Another literature review across data from multiple countries over 15 years, showed that GM crops reduce the pressure of agriculture on natural biodiversity by changing tillage practices and decreasing pesticide use. Advantageous traits from GM crops could transfer to indigenous plants in the same region but there are techniques, like requiring to GM plants to cross breed before the trait is present, that can be implemented to prevent cross pollination if the gene spreading to a related species is seen as a risk. Finally, the vulnerability of monocultures such as potatoes and bananas could actually be counteracted by targeted gene editing. Both strains of plants were developed through natural selection and inbreeding which made the current varieties susceptible to pests and fungal infections.
Regulation Going Forward
BT cotton has allowed India’s contribution to the world cotton market to increase from 14% in 2002 and 2003 to 25% by 2014 but GM crops are still viewed with skepticism due to the commercial policies employed by the companies who developed it. Farmers growing BT cotton reported higher yield and resistance to the bollworm pest but they also saw their costs going up as a result of a 3 to 5 fold increase in the price of seeds from Monsanto as well as accompanying pesticides. This led the Indian government to eventually cap the price of seeds in 2016. Wariness of dependence on a foreign company for the technology does explain resistance to adopting GM crops but then plants such as high-yield mustard seeds developed by research at an Indian university should still be considered for approval as long as they also are paired with proper commercial regulation.
The Department of Biotechnology in India has provided guidelines for research using recombinant DNA on crops going back to the 1990s but the advancements made by scientists are not translating into the field due to inconsistent regulation. For example, BT brinjal were approved as safe by Genetic Engineering Approval Committee but then not allowed to be released commercially by the Environment Ministry. In a time when vegetables in particular may be in short supply, it seems counter intuitive to not maximize production of widely used crop such as brinjal. Meanwhile, GM crops are still entering India on an unregulated basis from countries who have not instated ban as well as through imports of foods. Indian regulatory agencies should take a balanced approach to allowing the gradual adoption of GM crops under the right commercial agreements to benefit farmers. Given impending food crisis, now is the time for India regulatory agencies to view GM crops through the lens of scientific evidence.
For more on the history of GM crops in India and next steps for policy, check out this piece by Akhila Jayaram.
