GMW: Govt scientists sat on shocking findings for 2 years

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GMW: Govt scientists sat on shocking findings for 2 years

" GM WATCH " <info

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 10:39:51 +0100

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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This press release is an important follow on on the findings of

government scientists at the the Central Institute of Cotton Research

in India

showing that Bt cotton is inherently ineffective.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5542

 

The CICR study has provided a confirmation of what studies by

non-government scientists and NGOs have repeatedly shown - the

extremely uneven

performance of Bt Cotton across varieties, across seasons and across

locations.

 

As we reported yesterday, Dr Suman Sahai has asked,

 

" Why weren't rigorous studies such as this one conducted earlier? " To

which one of the government scientists involved replied, " We're now

asking ourselves the same question. "

 

BUT this may be disingenuous as it has now emerged that the shocking

findings in the CICR's study have been known about since 2003!!!

 

And by sitting on these findings and not informing the regulators of

the problems found with Bt cotton, a series of fresh releases of Bt

Cotton in India have been made possible. These approvals, says the Centre

for Sustainable Agriculture, must now be revoked in order to protect

farmers.

 

CSA fears the release of the delayed findings may be part of a

deliberate PR strategy.

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CICR knew about the ineffective expression of Bt toxin all along –

Shows again that decision-making on GE crops in this country is highly

questionable

 

PRESS RELEASE: Centre for Sustainable Agriculture

 

Hyderabad, July 28, 2005: Reacting to the latest report of the Central

Institute of Cotton Research, Nagpur[1] on the toxin expression of Bt

Cotton being ineffective against bollworm in the most vulnerable parts

of the Bt Cotton plant, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture calls for an

immediate revoking of all the approved Bt Cotton varieties from the

market immediately.

 

Questioning the fact that CICR chooses to put out these shocking

findings which emerged in 2003 only now, Dr Ramanjaneyulu, Executive, CSA

said " CICR should be made accountable for not informing the

decision-making processes within GEAC in time and for not stopping

fresh releases

of Bt

Cotton in India, even after finding that inter-hybrid variability of

toxin expression is 2 to 7 fold, that Bt Cotton becomes ineffective after

110 days after sowing and that within the plant, the toxin expressions

were the lowest in the ovary of flowers and boll rind of green bolls

which constitute the most favored sites of bollworm attack. "

 

The findings vindicate the stand that groups like CSA have been taking

about the extremely uneven performance of Bt Cotton on the ground –

across

varieties, across seasons and across locations. Coupled with an earlier

study of Dharwad Agricultural University[2] which shows that existing

resistance to Bt toxin is high in many bollworm populations across the

country, the entire Bt Cotton technology becomes highly questionable –

on the one hand is inadequate expression of the Bt toxin in different

varieties, at different stages of the crop and in different parts of the

crop and on the other hand is existing resistance to such Bt toxin. The

whole episode shows once again that scientists have no control over the

toxin expression and that the technology of genetic modification is

imprecise and unpredictable.

 

" Many such reports and studies are available with various agricultural

universities across the country which have not been made public so far.

It is imperative that these be shared with the public at large and the

decision-making processes related to GE crops in the country opened up

to public scrutiny " , said Dr Ramanjaneyulu.

 

" This has many implications for resistance building up faster in

bollworm populations, given that resistance management practices laid

down

are ineffective and are completely non-existent on the ground. One

wonders if this is the ground-laying for introduction of Bollgard II,

which

is in a seed production stage this year, on the grounds that Bollgard I

is ineffective. Based on these findings, CICR and the entire ICAR set

up is to be made accountable for allowing the commercial release of an

imperfect technology at the expense of hapless farmers and their

environment and to the benefit of corporations " , added Ms Kavitha

Kuruganti of

CSA.

 

The CICR paper also mentions that Bt Cotton is known to be more

effective in varieties than in hybrids [though in India, it has been

approved

for hybrids only], that " the Indian farmer would have to be mentally

prepared for the possibility of extra supplemental insecticide

applications for bollworm control on Bt Cotton hybrids " , that the

original US Bt

Cotton varieties are designed to protect the crop from tobacco budworm

more than Helicoverpa armigera which is a major pest in India and which

is at least ten fold more tolerant to the Cry 1 Ac protein.

 

It is worth noting that the CICR found Bt toxin ineffective in

varieties like RCH2 Bt even though the variety was commercialized

around the

same time that GEAC approved the Bt Cotton hybrid of Rasi Seeds in 2004.

 

For more information, contact:

 

1.Dr G V Ramanjaneyulu at ramoo or +91-93-913-59702

2.Ms Kavitha Kuruganti at kavitha_kuruganti or

+91-93-930-01550

 

Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, 12-13-445, Street # 1, Tarnaka,

Secunderabad 17

Phone: +91-40-27017735; Email: csa

 

The above mentioned scientific papers are available on line at the

following links:

 

1. http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/jul252005/291.pdf

2. 144.16.79.155/currsci/may252003/1304.pdf

 

[1] " Temporal and Intra-plant variability of Cry1Ac expression in Bt

Cotton and its influence on the survival of the Cotton Bollworm " , Kranthi

K R et al

(of Central Institute of Cotton Research,

<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =

" urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags " > / Nagpur), Current

Science, Vol 89, No 2, 25th July 2005

 

[2] " Baseline Resistance to Cry1Ac toxin in cotton bollworm,

Helicoverpa armigera in south Indian Cotton Ecosystem " , Fakrudin B et

al, (of

Department

of Biotechnology, University of Agriculture Sciences, Dharwad), Current

Science, Vol 84, No 10, 25th May 2003

 

 

 

 

 

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