It is unfortunate that someone of MS Swaminathan’s calibre (“Brinjal battles”, March 2) should come out against Bt brinjal, arguing that it will hurt small farmers. I can understand the argument that Bt brinjal is unsafe, but that is not the argument that is being made — the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) had already cleared Bt brinjal on grounds of science. It is argued that the GEAC had asked for continuous monitoring and that, in the Indian context, this is not possible. But continuous monitoring is something that happens for everything … if this was to be applied in a blanket fashion, India would never be able to clear any medicine for use since, in many well-known cases, medicines cleared for use globally have been found to have unforeseen side effects.
As for the issue of the small farmer getting affected, how will that happen? The argument is that small farmers will now have to pay for seeds and this will hurt them. But why will small farmers buy Bt seeds if they don’t save by using them — either through lower use of pesticides or through greater productivity. Or are we assuming that small farmers don’t understand what profits are and will blindly buy the more expensive seeds?
Ujwal Gupta, New Delhi
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