Publish Date : 02.09.20

To Bt or not to Bt ?

ATM News Network - Any new technology invites many sceptics who challenges its usefulness. It may be either a fear of unknown or just being plain scepticism, but we always see the debate on both sides. This debate is good as long it is healthy and allows everyone to put forward their viewpoints and let the data and science to speak for itself. The debate about Genetically Modified (GM) crops is no exception. However, the officials of AAI expressed their views while celebrating the 25th anniversary of the commercialization of GM crops.

In these 25 years of cultivation, more than a trillion meals have been served which had one or more ingredients derived from GM crops and there is not a single substantiated claim of any ill effect on health which could be attributed to GM crops. In India, GM cotton or commonly known as Bt cotton (because of Bt gene that controls a certain group of insects) has been successfully cultivated for the last 18 years and today more than 95 per cent cotton growing area in India is under Bt cotton.

Yet, there are some groups in India who oppose GM crops claiming disadvantages like; the production imposes high risks to the disruption of ecosystem and biodiversity. It increases the cost of cultivation and more inclined towards the marketization of farming that works on immoral profits. It is biologically altered. Hence, biotech foods may pose a human health risk. Debate on a technology based on hard facts and not emotions or scaremongering should take place and Research institutes should take field trails to justify the advantage and disadvantages of technology.