Caution Is Not Complacency

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, The Economic Times, Mumbai.

I am worried about the third issue taken up by Arvind Panagariya in the editorial ... Indian Growth Miracle Faces Threat, published in The Eco Times, Thu 25th Feb 2010, Mumbai, page-16. (see attached pdf file).

In his warning on the 'complacency factor' which has entered the policy levels, he mentions three issues, of which the third is about GM-foods. He feels that these would be of great benefit to the farmers of India and could be the second green revolution we are all looking for. No doubt there is a evidence to support 'gene splicing' for food, most of it supported by the creators. Yet one must not forget that all this is hardly one generation old, the author mentions ten year usage. Human memory is not so weak as to forget that all such inventions have a tendency to show problems after forty or more years. Can India afford to risk its farms, seeds and bio-diversity for this? I think not. Caution is the only key when we deal with a billion plus citizens, most of who will never be well-informed to make a meaningful choice, if such is left by the creators of GM-foods.

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine has warned that the public should avoid genetically modified (GM) foods, stating, "There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation." One cannot forget that the gene-modifiation is primarily done to improve yield and reduce pest attacks. This technic pre-supposes that the human metabolism and complex systems will rapidly adapt to the changes in the plant DNA. Currently, even the use of microwaves is being questioned since it causes damage to food DNA which are then likely to be treated as alien by the human metabolic system. Human and animal processes that evolved over hundreds of millenia are supposed to adapt in a human-generation. I think this goes against common sense. One needs to think this over carefully and not look for passing swallows hoping spring has come.

Praful Vora, Mumbai.