MORE than 100,000 people kill themselves each year in India. Many of these deaths are of men who fall into debt, and one-fifth of all the suicides are farmers. The farmers’ plight has become a lightning rod for critics of genetically modified crops, including , heir to the British throne. Anti-GM groups have long argued that expensive cotton seeds engineered to contain the gene for the pesticidal Bt toxin were irresponsibly promoted in 2002, when the Indian government gave the go-ahead for their use. The prince highlighted the issue last month in a public lecture.
GM varieties failed miserably at first, partly because of drought, and some destitute farmers were driven to suicide. Now an has concluded that it’s unfair to blame the Bt cotton (see “GM cotton absolved of farmer suicides”). It turns out that the suicide rate has remained static, even though a multitude of new varieties of Bt cotton have made the altered crop more popular than ever.
The analysis acknowledges that the early failures may have been a contributory factor in the farmers’ suicides, but the reliance by farmers on illegal moneylenders played a bigger role. Focusing on GM may even have cost lives by distracting attention from other potential causes.
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This tragic tale shows how difficult it can be for ordinary members of the public to get to the facts when an industry hypes a technology and committed opponents seize every opportunity to demonise it. Who do you believe?
More independent auditing of GM technology is needed. To sift the facts from the tidal wave of propaganda, let’s involve disinterested bodies such as the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, and invite observers from both sides to monitor data gathering. It’s high time the GM debate became less polarised and more constructive.
