Skip to main content

India has to depend on GMO's to feed its huge population, no option

Large-scale cultivation of transgenic crops is a necessity if India is to feed a growing population and use more of its farmland for industry and homes, a senior government official said on Monday. "Whether we like it or not, transgenic crops will soon be a reality," Mangala Rai, secretary of the Department of Agriculture Research and Education, told an international conference on biotechnology. Producing more food from less land would require widespread use of GM crops, which can provide higher yields, he said. "Self-sufficiency in food is crucial and the only way to ensure that is to adopt the GM technology. There cannot be two views on the issue," Rai added. Opponents of the use of biotechnology in food crops argue the new varieties could not only threaten the environment but also the health of consumers. Despite being the world's second-largest producer of wheat, India has had to import massive amounts of the grain in the last two years as harvests failed to meet demand and fill buffer stocks to the required levels.

In a sign the government is increasingly looking to the laboratory for an answer to India's food security worries, it last month approved the first
large-scale field trials of a genetically modified food crop. A new hybrid variety of the popular brinjal vegetable, which promises better yields with less intensive use of pesticides, will be planted at test sites. India has allowed commercial cultivation of genetically modified bacillus thuringiensis or Bt cotton seeds cotton since 2002. The decision led to wide-spread protests from social activists who feared ecological damage. Rai said the genetically architectured seeds have helped India raise cotton output by 3-4 million bales a year. India, the world's second-largest cotton producer after China, overtook the United States with estimated output of 28 million bales (1 bale=170 kg) in the year to September 2007. Argentinian Deputy Secretary of Agricultural Policy and Food Fernando Nebbia told the conference GM crops were essential to raise foodgrains output, but a stronger regulatory framework was necessary to address concerns. He said Argentina, the world's second-biggest producer of genetically modified grains, has planted bio-engineered crops across 60 percent of its cultivated farmland. A report from Reuters.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Charging Implanted Heart Pumps Wirelessly

Mechanical pumps to give failing hearts a boost were originally developed as temporary measures for patients awaiting a heart transplant. But as the technology has improved, these ventricular assist devices commonly operate in patients for years, including in former vice-president Dick Cheney, whose implant this month celebrates its one-year anniversary. Prolonged use, however, has its own problems. The power cord that protrudes through the patient's belly is cumbersome and prone to infection over time. Infections occur in close to 40 percent of patients, are the leading cause of rehospitalization, and can be fatal. Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center have tested a wireless power system for ventricular assist devices. They recently presented the work in Washington, D.C. at the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs annual meeting, where it received the Willem Kolff/Donald B. Olsen Award for most promising research in

Autism and Eye Contact: Genes very much are involved

We have now a lot of evidence on genetic components in many disorders including neurological in both adults and kids. Autism is one such problem that has many genes involved. Research is still in full swing to find more genes and related pathways. However, one can find autistic features more phenotypically before genotyping. Eye contact is one of them. Studies have shown that autistic kids make less eye contact. This has been shown to have genetic component now. New research has uncovered compelling evidence that genetics plays a major role in how children look at the world and whether they have a preference for gazing at people's eyes and faces or at objects. The discovery by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta adds new detail to understanding the causes of autism spectrum disorder. The results show that the moment-to-moment movements of children's eyes as they seek visual information about the

How much people depend on weather reports

Meteorologists on television, radio, online, and in newspapers supply weather reports to the average person over 100 times a month. Surveys demonstrated that the 300 billion forecasts accessed generate a value of $285 per household every year, or $32 billion for the entire United States. Odds are you have already watched one weather forecast today and will probably check out a few more. Accurate, timely forecasts are vital to everyday life, but just how critical may surprise you. Whether at work or play, you probably watch the weather quite closely. Most of us are at the weather person's mercy to know what to wear, what to expect, to prepare for the worst. New research shows the average United States household checks out a weather report more than three times a day. "It impacts pretty much every part of every activity we are involved with for the most part," Jeff Lazo, the director of the Societal Impacts Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in B