This refers to the interview with Mr Gilles-Eric Seralini in your issue of July 17, 2009 where several references have been made to Bt brinjal. I would like to set the record straight.
Tests conducted by Mahyco were as per the government’s regulatory requirement and were conducted at third- party institutes in many cases.
Studies were conducted as per protocol approved by the regulatory authorities.
All reports submitted to the government are duly signed by the institutes which carry out the tests. Bt brinjal produces the same Cry1Ac protein as has been reported. In addition, the toxicity studies were done using the fruit or plant parts of the Bt brinjal plant, so the protein which is in the plant is the exact protein that got tested in the toxicity studies.
Numerous studies have been carried out on the fate of antibiotic resistance marker DNA from genetically engineered plants in digestive tracts. These show that there is a very low probability of these genes remaining intact.
The safety of the nptII gene in foods is accepted by regulatory authorities around the world. There is nothing ‘old’ or ‘outdated’ about what Mahyco bought. Nor does Mahyco have a ‘parent company’. Mahyco has a partnership with Monsanto as well as a multi-crop, multi-licensing agreement with several research organisations both in India and abroad.
While examining the energy content, comparison should have been made between Bt and non-Bt counterparts of the same line or same hybrid, and not the averages of different lines or hybrids. The comparison of Bt and its non-Bt counterpart shows that the results are similar.
Diarrhoea was seen in only one female and two males out of ten animals in each group of rats, that too for only four days in a 90-day study. Both Bt and non-Bt treatments show similar responses and the study showed no treatment related statistical differences.
The observation of decreased liver weight and decreased liver to body weight ratio as stated by Seralini pertains to the Dose Range Finding Study. The dose range study is conducted using 3 rats/dose and for short duration (14 days) to select the test dose for long-duration study (90 days) using large number of rats (10 per dose). Hence the data obtained from the main study of 90 days is more relevant than short duration Dose Range Study. In the main study no such effect has been seen. In addition the indicators of hepatotoxicity like total plasma protein, enzymes like GPT / ALT and GOT / AST and Total bilirubin in 90-day study has not shown any difference. Hence the observation in a small group of rats for short duration is not relevant. At necropsy, no gross lesion in liver has been seen.
Bt brinjal has always been compared with its non-Bt counterpart. In all the studies the exact same variety has been tested in Bt and non-Bt forms.
Dr Usha Barwale Zehr
Joint Director of Research Mahyco Research Centre,
Dawalwadi, Maharashtra
