Tuesday 10 April 2012

GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROP: Bt BRINJAL

Brinjal also known as the king of vegetables, is the first Genetically Modified Food Crop in India. It was introduced in the year 2009 by a Maharashtra based seed company.India was chosen as the first country to market these GM brinjals because it is a tropical country and we are the people who consume brinjal the most in the world. Moreover brinjal being a native crop is easier to market.

SO WHATS Bt BRINJAL?
                     Bt Brinjals are nothing but food crops that are grown from GMO( Genetically Modified Organism). This brinjal has its genetic material modified with some bacterial genome which is responsible to produce chemicals that make the crop pest-resistant.

PROS AND CONS:
                        The following are the advantages of Bt Brinjal:
  • Brinjal is cost effective ,can produce high yield.
  • It can fight weeds and pesticides.
  • It uses less herbicides compared to the original brinjals.
  • As it can be cultivated in a small piece of land it can serve to the growing population.
  • It also stays ripe for a along period of time than the usual brinjal.
  • It offers more nutritional value and better flavor.
  • It can withstand adverse climatic conditions.
                                Though these crops various advantages, they even have loads of notable health hazards. Scientists say that in addition to the Bt toxin, it also has a viral promoter (CA MV 335) and an antibiotic resistance marker (npt 11 gene) which makes us resistant to various antibiotics. The following are the disadvantages of Bt brinjal given by scientists when studied on rats:
  • Allergenicity
  • Tumorogenicity- ie.capable of causing tumor
  • High mortality and infertility of off spring
  • Poor growth
  • Damage to liver, pancreas, and gut lining
  • Affects immune system 
HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE?
                                 Bt Brinjals look just as same as normally grown brinjals.Therefore it is very difficuly or impossible to differentiate them by just looking. There are some very elaborate chemical experiments which can only be dine in laboratories to determine if a brinjal is genetically modified or not.


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