Even as controversy rages over the transgenic Bt-brinjal, Indian scientists have developed a genetically modified (GM) fish, which could be the first genetically engineered animal to get into the human food chain. The Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology is reported to have altered the genes of the popular Rohu (or carp), to boost its production. The modified Rohu is claimed to have a synthesised gene which stimulates the production of a growth hormone that makes the fish bigger and grow faster. The scientists who have developed this fish maintain that they have not used any alien gene; instead, they have inserted a gene into the Rohu genome which is a mashed cocktail of its own genome. This makes it auto-transgenic, and not the usual transgenic product which gets a gene from an alien species inserted into its DNA.
This development has exposed a gap in the country’s preparedness for a GM age. While a regulatory mechanism — however controversial — exists for overseeing the research and safety trials of GM plants before their formal approval for commercialisation, no such arrangement exists for GM animals and other organisms. The US took the lead last year by coming out with guidelines for the regulation of genetically engineered animals, and the products derived from them. These norms make it obligatory for producers to submit proof, similar to the one needed for GM crops, that the animals or their products present no risk to humans or public health, or to other animals and the environment. Producers are also required to inform the authorities about the methods used to introduce the new DNA and the stability of the new inherited trait. The lacuna in these guidelines is that they are self-regulatory in nature and quiet on the labelling of products from gene-altered animals. India will have to conceive a sui generis system of regulating GM animal production, with safety being the paramount concern.