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Genetically Modified Food - BT Brinjal

on February 13th, 2010 at 06:28 PM (1087 Views)

What is BT Brinjal? It is creating so much controversy in India with even the Environment minister going back and forth over the issue.

Like most people assume, BT here does not stand for Bio-Technology! Bt Brinjal is Bacillus thuringiensis Brinjal.

Bt Brinjal is a genetically modified brinjal (syn: eggplant, aubergine, begun) created by inserting a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) into brinjal. This has been developed indigenously by the Indian firm Mahyco with the Cry1Ac gene accessed from the US firm Monsanto.

The insertion of this gene into the vegetable is supposed to give the brinjal plant resistance against borer insects like Leucinodes orbonalis and Helicoverpa armigera. The Bt toxin produced by this bacterium (and because of genetic modification, by Bt brinjal itself) will impair the digestive processes of these insects with fatal effects on them.

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee of India has stated that Bt brinjal will reduce the farmers' dependence on pesticides and enable higher yields.

After having batted for the commercial introduction of this genetically modified brinjal, Mr Jairam Ramesh, the environment and forests minister, recently withdrew his support and put a moratorium on the introduction.

This was after concerns about the long-term safety of Bt brinjal consumption as no such studies are available.

Do you prefer to consume Bt Brinjal or the natural vegetable?

Updated February 14th, 2010 at 04:33 AM by Shashikiran

Tags: bt brinjal, genetic engineering, genetically modified, mahyco, monsanto, vegetable

Categories: Technology , General

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Comments

**smiles** - February 24th, 2010 12:25 PM

definitely the natural brinjal!
BT would solve the pest problem for now ...but they may lead to the rise of new super-pests in future ,wouldnt they?
As we have always seen- when we fight nature , it fights back . OnlY HARDER!

so its best for man to stay as nature-friendly as possible . creating transgenic varieties of crops is too much of a human interfereance of nature. besides , wouldnt that subsequently result in some sort of genetic- contamination?
what if cross pollination occured between natural and transgenic species?
what if the BT trend replaced natural crops in future all over the world endangering the population of natural species of plants?
what if the BT affected other animals if not man?
what if..??

-not a biotech student here .pls correct me if am wrong.
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Shashikiran - February 26th, 2010 06:12 PM

@**smiles**,

BT would solve the pest problem for now ...but they may lead to the rise of new super-pests in future ,wouldnt they? As we have always seen- when we fight nature , it fights back . OnlY HARDER!

You are absolutely correct, you and I as persons in the medical field are aware of the concept of microbial resistance to antibiotics and the mutations of existing organisms into more virulent forms. The same may happen with insects too and whatever we are going to solve by this genetic modification may be temporary.

However, until now, though man has not been able to totally defeat and annihilate the micro-organisms, he has been able to contain them to a great extent as evidenced by the longer lifespan of individuals after the antibiotic era.

So, the defeat by the 'super-pest' will also be very temporary then and the fight will go on.

so its best for man to stay as nature-friendly as possible

Right, nature-friendly and natural

wouldnt that subsequently result in some sort of genetic- contamination?
what if cross pollination occured between natural and transgenic species?
what if the BT trend replaced natural crops in future all over the world endangering the population of natural species of plants?
what if the BT affected other animals if not man?

These questions are exactly the ones being raised by the anti-GM foods activists and nobody has a clear answer to this. The only way is to experiment in the labs and see the long-term effect. However, no experiment will be fool-proof too.

Sooner or later, BT Brinjal and other genetically modified food items will become reality. Only time will tell whether it is good or bad for mankind. I hope the persons in-charge of this use their wisdom well and it will turn out to be good for mankind.
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