Q and A on GM and GE food with Sadananda Sahoo(SS)

Sadananda Sahoo (SS) <sahoocsid@yahoo.comwrote:

Sadananda Sahoo(SS): These days Delhi market is flooded with GM tomatoes and other variety of vegetables. I don't have much knowledge on the harmful effects of GM crops. But I want to know from Subhas Mahapatra about few things.

Subhas Mohapatra(SM): To the best of my knowledge GE-Tomato has not yet been created although GM-tomato is plentiful every where

SS: . Why GM crops are not tasty as our natural crops? It is no way closer to the natural vegetables. Our natural vegetables don't have the beauty than the GM crops have. GM vegetables look so attractive!!! Natural vegetables look ugly before them.

SM: Taste has nothing to do with GM or GE. It is the result of marketing strategy. People now a days are harvesting green tomatoes and ripening them through ethylene. This allows more quantities of tomato hit the market as compared to vine-ripe tomatoes. If you are eating for taste that indeed is a disappointment. But if you are eating for food value, the food value of these tomatoes is no different from vine ripe tomatoes.

SS: Do we need to go for GM crops? (People say this will help in producing more, then what? The plenty of production does not reduce the poverty and exploitation of the poor).

SM: We are already using GM crops. All hybrids are GM crops. Poverty has nothing do with food production. Poverty has more to do with food distribution/marketing. Poor people as such do not have access to market because of numerous factors, distance being the single most hurdle. NGOs can help poor people much in this regard.

SS: . Why do we need to brain wash the poor farmers to relearn the technology of using GM crops and forgetting their own traditional knowledge- which is more dependable and durable?

SM: This is a misconception. People need to use better germ plasm for better profitability. If they wish to remain poor of course they can continue to use old seeds. Every one now a days is using hybrid seeds. India became self-sufficient in food only through the use of GM seeds, not traditional seeds.

SS: . I think the world has been producing enough and the challenge is not further producing enough. The challenge is at the attitudinal level. People with new knowledge and technology further wish to take advantage and exploit further who are outside this knowledge system. Knowledge is good when it is transparent and respect the environment, people and bring harmony in society.

SM: This is not a question. It is an opinion. You are entitled to your opinion as I am to mine.

SS:. Today we have many advocates for any company products and knowledge and very few volunteers to advocate for the natural way of living. The very nature of GM crop is the greedy nature of companies to make enough profits. I think the technology in the hands of Bhasmasura- a wrong hand that will spoil the world. They have no vision for tomorrow.

SM: Again, this is not a question. It is an opinion, which you are entitled to. But I have different views on this.

SS: . Just compare if a human being will be altered chemically? If it happens in massive scale what will happen? We may not think of such a horror dream!

SM: Before a single human being is altered, several hundreds will have been killed by a knife. May be we should ban making and use of knives. I do not know the laws in your country. But in this country (USA) it is illegal to do experiments on human beings. Actually horrors are nightmares, not dreams.

SS: But we can think to do all kinds of alteration with our environment as we think we (human) have every right to exercise our will around us. Surprisingly human being is not thinking of the consequences which may come after 10 to 20 years in future. They have been most selfish in this era.

SM: As far as I know, no one purposely is altering the environment. Unfortunately, environment alteration has become a result of our modern life style. Human beings in general can not do much, but you as an individual can do much by deciding to walk or use bi-cycle rather than use automobiles. or trains or planes.

SS: People who built the civilization always think of holistic perspective. Civilization needs to take into account the voices of poet, artists, philosopher, saints.

SM: If we look back these people have built the civilization. We don't remember those businessmen of yesteryears! I do not give credit to any one for building civilization. To me civilization is a result of human evolution at individual and societal level.

SS: Development in any field should be linked to the interrelated knowledge system- cultural, spiritual, economic and all. "Our specialised knowledge will help us only to think like a blind men judging an elephant".

SM: I do not have much wisdom to comment on this.

--- subhas mohapatra(SM) <iaff10@yahoo.comwrote:

POST Script:
Because I will be going out of town for couple of weeks it may not be possible to participate in the ongoing discussion on GM/GE crops. I am therefore leaving the following thoughts for readers on this subject. Will offer needed clarification upon my return. What we say gnetically modified or genetically engineered is actually a process of chemical modification. We isolate the chemical molecule DNA, break it down to pieces id polymers (or chemical compounds) before we insert into the cell. Thus we are chemically modifying the DNA of the cell. The piece of chemical we introduce is rarely a complete gene. We do not insert the complete gene because the regulatory elements are already inside the cell. All we need is to insert new chemical fragments to function as templates for new proteins. Some times we find that needed genes are already present but are not expressing because of the inefficiency/absence of the regulatory mechanisms. In that case, we introduce the needed regulatory chemical molecules. I have simplified the statement because the actual process is much more detailed than what I have said here. Thus, we can technically replace the terms "GM" and "GE" with "CM" and "CE" (i.e. chemically altered or chemically engineered) respectively.

We all know that even though we use the land to produce rice and cereal crops, the tools and sequence of operations are often quite different. Like wise, although we use different chemicals, the concept of chemical alteration of plants is akin to water purification. We all know that rivers and streams carry industrial pollutions and animal urine and stools situated upstream. We pass these "dirty water" through water treatment plants to modify them chemically to bring to a relatively pure (not absolutely poor) state for city water supply. This chemical modification is often more harmful to human beings than the chemically modified plants have ever been. Even with close monitoring of pollutions and microorganism some times water treatment plants fail or some times the plumbing systems introduce new organisms or pollutants make the water unsafe. Thus in all city water supplies there is a "tolerable" level of pollutants and pathogens. The "tolerable" level is there because dirty water can not be made "absolutely pure". The readers need to recognize that every day we drink city water we are voluntarily subjecting ourselves to potential true hazards. This will never happened in chemically altered crops because they do not acquire chemicals on the way to the "market" and before they are released to the market they are thoroughly tested with respect to their danger and efficacy. So folks, start using the term "CM" and "CE" crops and put your mind at rest from the perceived dangers of "GM" and "GE" crops. Happy Easter Break.