The Legal Analyst ISSN: 2231-5594 Volume 1, 2011, pp.

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GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS AND FOOD SECURITY

Abhishek Kr. Tiwari* & Dr. Vinita Kacher**
Abstract: In the whole world population is increasing with a fast ratio but food production is not increasing equal to that ratio ultimately there is the problem of food security. The application of modern biotechnology to the food production presents opportunity and challenges for the human health. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally. The technology used to do this-genetic modification-allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another, either from the same species or from a non -related species. In this paper authors want to understand the concept of food security, global crisis in food, use of GM Technology for production of food , controversies arising out of use of these technologies. Those in favor of GM crops often claim that they have the potential to feed the world population. The example of Bt brinjal and Pro -Vitamin - A Golden Rice are discussed in this context. There is an attempt to find out whether GM crops are viable solution of food in security or not. Key Words: Food Security, Genetically Modified Crops, Agriculture.

Introduction: Food has played a critical role in history. Archeological evidences suggest that many, perhaps most, ancient civilizations disappeared as a result of losing the ability to feed them. The most common reasons cited for this disaster are climate and ecological changes, combined with over population. In the whole world population is increasing w ith a fast ratio but food production is not increasing equal to that ratio ultimately there is the problem of food security. The application of modern biotechnology to the food production presents opportunity and challenges for the human health. New genetically modified 1 technologies are introduced with a promise of solution to increased food production, reduction in environmental degradation and promotion of sustainable development. However, besides raising various environmental, ethical and social concerns, today, GM technologies are being promoted by a handful of multinational business corporations, who are privatizing the worlds food chain and protecting their investments by using intellectual property rights. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally 2 . The technology used to do this-genetic modification 3 allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another, either from the same species or from a non-related species. In this paper authors want understand the concept of food security, global crisis in food, use of GM Technology for production of food, controversies arising out of use of these technologies. There is an attempt to examine the phenomenon of food security in the context of GM crops. There is problem of food insecurity at worldwide level. Those in favor of GM crops often claim that they have the potential to feed the world population. The example of Bt brinjal and Pro -Vitamin - A Golden Rice are discussed in this context. There is an attempt to find out whether GM crops are viable solution of food in security or not. What is Food Security? Food security remains an overwhelming concern for developing countries even though some countries classified as developing countries have virtually eradicated hunger. As often acknowledged, food security is a function of availability; access and distribution of food. 4 A number of other links are also relevant such as the links between food security, property rights, agriculture and environmental management. Food security can be understood at different levels, from the household to
* Research Schol ar, Facul ty of Law, Uni versity of Lucknow, Lucknow, INDIA. ** Senior Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Uni versity of Lucknow, Lucknow, INDIA.
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Hereinafter referred as GM Naturally meaning by mating or natural recombination 3 Sometimes also called recombinant DNA technology or genetic engineering 4 M ahbu-bul-Haq, Human Development in South Asia 2002 Agriculture and Rural Development, 98 (2003)

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the international level. While the overall availability of food at a global level is not a major concern at present. Food availability in specific regions of the world and access to food by specific individuals remains a major concern in most parts of the South 5 . Further, population growth in countries where undernourishment is already a problem and diminishing arable land availability make food insecurity one of the most important policy challenges of coming years. The concept of food security has been defined in various ways. In the 1970s, food security was used to refer to the availability of food stuff in sufficient quantity at a global level. During the course of 1980s and 1990s, academics and NGOs pointed out the inadequacy of food security approaches rooted in promoting global production levels and countries access to world markets for food alone. They emphasized instead that food security approaches should guarantee livelihoods which would generate sufficient food at the household level. One of the most commonly accepted definitions of food security is: Adequate access to food at all times, throughout the year to year. Access is ensured when all households and all individuals within those household have sufficient resources to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet. It is dependent on the level of household resource capital, labour, and knowledge and on prices.6 At the 1996 Rome World Food Summit (WFS), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) produced a new definition. The FAO definition of food security is; Food that is available at all times, that all persons have means of access to it, that it is nutritionally adequate in terms of quantity, quality and variety and it is acceptable within the culture.7 Although this definition tried to remedy earlier deficiencies, it is by no means universally accepted. The biotechnology industry, in common with World Bank, WTO and IMF studies, continue to use the term food security largely to denote increased global production of food. It is within this context that Sri M. S. Swaminathan has proposed a comprehensive definition of food security in preparation for the 1996 World Food Summit: Policies and technologies for sustainable food security should ensure: That every individual has the physical, economic, social and environmental access to a balanced diet that includes the necessary macro- and micro-nutrients, safe drinking water, sanitation, environmental hygiene, primary health care, and education so as to lead a healthy and productive life. That food originates from efficient and environmentally benign production technologies that conserve and enhance the natural resource base of crops, animal husbandry, and forestry, inland and marine fisheries. 8 Swaminathans definition captures both the complexity and the multi-dimensionality of food security with particular regard to environmental constraints and preservation of ecosystems. Keeping in mind that the majority of developing countries rely on smallholder farms and that hunger is caused by poverty, inequality and lack of access to food and to land, allows us to scrutinise the promises of agro-chemical industries. Global Food Crisis: The worlds population continues to grow even as available farmland shrinks. There is an urgent need for sustainable practices in world agriculture if the demands of an expanding world population are to be met without destroying the environment or natural resource base. Humans face the challenge of producing enough food to meet the demands imposed by several biological and agricultural factors as: Rising population; Rising income, and an expectation of a higher quality, more divers diet;
Carl F. Jordan, Genetic Engineering, the Farm Crisis and World Hunger. Bioscience 523, 526 (2002) T. K .Chandrabhanu and Vasudev Bhatnagar, Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, Vol. 10, 2009, at148 7 See: Farhana Amin, Globlisation and the international Governance of modern Biotechnology IPRs Biotechnology and Food Security. Research Paper of Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD), available at http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&ei=oB3oSfWEOIuP_QbGiM j7Aw&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=1&ct=result&cd=1&q=Far hana+Yamin+Iprs+food+security+and+biotechnology&spell=1 (Accessed on 10/9/2010) 8 M . S. Swaminathan, From Rio de Janeiro to Johannesburg: Action Today and Not Promises for Tomorrow, 21 ( 2002)
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Decreasing amount of land available for food production; Decreasing use of synthetic pesticides; Preservation of biodiversity. These factors have put a problem/ challenge before the developing countries to increase and improve the food supply. Promoters of GM technology say that GM technology coupled with important developments in other areas, has the potential to increase the production of food, improve the efficiency of production and the nutritional quality of foods, reduce the environmental impact of traditional agriculture, and with cooperative efforts, provide access to this technology for small-scale farmers. Global food prices have witnessed an unprecedented surge in recent times the increase in prices which initially started with corn and wheat, has now engulfed all cereals, vegetable oil meat, milk and most fruits and vegetables. The food price index (base 2005=100) of the International Monetary Fund, which covers a large number of food items, reached 170 in march 2008; the highest value of the index in the past quarter century was 143 in November 1980. The rise in prices has been much higher for staple foods. Wheat, rice, and maize prices in international markets in the first quarter of year 2008 were 107 %, 71 % and 29 % higher, respectively, as compared to the previous year, and this came on top of substantial jumps in 2007. 9 Hike in the prices of different food items like cereals, wheat, rice sugar, and vegetables especially onion and tomato in India in the year 2010-11 10 has made them out of the hands of poor. Food security at an individual level implies that people must either have a sufficient income to purchase food or the capacity to feed them directly by growing their own food. There is therefore a direct link between poverty and food security 11 . More specifically, food security is influenced by individuals capacity to work, individual and household access to land and their control over the land and other productive assets, including seeds. Further, food security is also influenced by policies concerning the management of the environment in general and agricultural biodiversity specifically. Diversity constitutes from an environmental point of view one of the ways in which resilience of agricultural systems can be ensured while from a socio-economic point of view, agro-biodiversity constitutes to a large extent one of the basic productive assets of poor farmers. In the light of above discussion it can be said that the global food crisis is a challenge for the whole world. In this context proponent of GM crops came with a promise that is to attain food security by the help of GM crops. The argument of GM Proponents: GM crops will feed the worlds growing population Those in favour of genetically modified (GM) crops often claim that they have the potential to feed the world. One of the major debates with regard to food security today is the contribution that agrobiotechnology can make to meeting the food needs of the worlds population. This happens in a context where it is expected that most of the increase in food production will continue to come from further intensification of crop production where part of this increase will come in the form of higher yields and part in the increase of multiple cropping and reduced fallow periods 12 . It is hoped that transgenic plant varieties can contribute to at least part of this food production increase. In practice, the impacts of transgenic plant varieties on agricultural management are partly similar to the impacts of Green Revolution varieties. The main differences are concerns over environmental safety on the one hand and the impacts of the close link between agro-biotechnology and IPRs. The policy challenges concerning food security are immense. Guaranteeing access to food for each individual around the world today and in the future requires measures to create wealth in poor communities, measures to enhance poor farmers control over their land and productive assets, measures to conserve the natural resource base while increasing either agricultural productivity or arable land availability and measures to ensure effective distribution of existing food supplies.
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Economic & Political Weekly, April 26, (2008) at5 The Times of India, January 8,2011 11 Supra note 2 12 The FAO estimates that 80% of crop production increases will come from this intensification of crop production. The 20% remaining will be initiated the expansion of arable land. See FAO, World Agriculture Towards 2015/2030 (2003)
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The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that food output must increase by 60 percent over the next 25 years to keep up with demand. In a report on the bioengineering of crops written for the World Bank and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in October 2007, a group led by Henry Kendall, chair of the Washington DC-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said that transgenic crops could improve food yields by up to 25 percent in developing countries and could help to feed an estimated additional three billion people over the next 30 years.13 With over 800 million hungry peoples over the world, proponents of GM crops advocate that GM seeds and crops will end world hunger and bring about food security by increasing agricultural yields and improving nutrition. It is also claimed that GM crops will contribute to sustainable food production and help preserve the environment. However, these claims have been greatly criticized. In this context the statement of Mr. C. R. Bhatia, a renowned geneticist and plant breeder in India is considerable; "The use of Biotechnology in agriculture has revealed that GM crops help enhanced food production and also offer food security and sustainability. Many countries have adopted Bt crops and are successful in achieving their food requirement."14 Dr Clive James, founder chairman of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), is of the view that: The use of biotechnology in agriculture had delivered a significant increase in food production with no harm to the environment. Today, many African countries are fighting for food and about 10 million out of 35 million population in Kenya are suffering from poverty due to drought and famine. The drastic climatic change in Asian countries, particularly in India, may cre ate a similar situation."15 Although the GM crops related to staple food are very few but some crops are golden rice and Bt brinjal. Pro-vitamin A golden rice: Lack of essential vitamins and minerals causes as many problems as lack of protein or calories. The biotech industry promises solutions to these problems with crops modified to contain vitamins and minerals. The most highly publicized of these GM crops is golden rice. As the acceptable face of GM, it is used to persuade consumers of the benefits GM can bring, even though it is still only at the research stage. Golden Rice, as a second generation transgenic, is a pioneering step in the use of agri-biotech to produce a significant impact at the consumer level, more specifically in developing countries. Thousands of children die every year of vitamin A deficiency. Scientists have engineered genetic material into rice to make it rich in beta-carotene, which is converted in the body to vitamin A. However, to reach the recommended intake of vitamin from this GM rice, 9Kg of cooked rice would have to be eaten every day. Developments such as golden rice fail to address real poverty issues such as the lack of a varied diet which contributes to malnutrition. They also distract from more accessible and affordable approaches advocated by the World Health Organisation such as promoting breastfeeding, food fortification, and eating more fruit and vegetables. 16 In Golden Rice, the successful engineering of the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway (i.e., genes) in the rice endosperm, with the subsequent expression of pro-vitamin A (i.e., beta-carotene), represents a remarkable technological accomplishment. Specifically, this is due to the utter complexity of the carotenogenic pathway, as well as the interrelated nature of plant metabolic systems 17 . Golden Rice has significant potential for the alleviation of chronic vitamin A

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Laura Spinney, Biotechnology in Crops: Issues for the Developing World available at http://www.actionbiotchnology.org (accessed on 10-07-2010) 14 CR Bhatia, a renowned geneticist and plant breeder in India. Available at http://www.fnbnews.com/article/detnews.asp?articleid=24942&sectionid=1,(accessed on 15-09-2010) 15 See http://www.fnbnews.com/article/detnews.asp?articleid=24942&sectionid=1, (accessed on 15-07-2010) 16 http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/gm_crops_food_security.pdf 12-03-2009 (accessed on 15/09/2010) 17 Gerhard Sandmann, Carotenoid Biosynthesis and Biotechnological Application, 385 Archives Biochemistry Biophysics 4 (2001) as cited in Stanley P. Kowalski Intellectual Property Management And International Capacity Building, Pierce Law Faculty Scholarship Series available at http://lsr.nellco.org/piercelaw/facseries/papers/7

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deficiency (VAD) throughout the developing world. VAD is a serious public health problem with worldwide estimates 52 of 100 to 200 million children affected.18 In terms of major food crops, maize and Soya have been the targets of most genetic manipulation to date. Wheat and rice are a little more complicated, but GM versions of these already exist they are not far behind. It is possible, therefore, that the maize- and soybean-growing areas of the world will see the first effects of the biotech revolution. 19 Genetically modified crops are now being farmed in 22 countries over a total area of 637.5 million hectare and they are expanding fast, while their trading value is estimated at about $6 US billion (Bt 203 billion) per year.20 Many genetically modified crops have already been sold in the market, including soybeans, corn, canola, cotton, potatoes and papaya. Developed countries like the United States, France, Australia, Canada, Spain and Germany, and developing countries like China, India, Argentina, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brazil, have embraced GMO technology. Adding to the urgency of the GMO debate are the already evident effects of global warming and climate change, including flooding, drought, rising sea levels and natural disasters that have resulted in failed crops and lower yields, which pose a threat to global food security. Many experts believe that the world, particularly poor developing countries, needs another Green Revolution and that GMO technology will enable that to happen. Criticism by Opponents of GM crops: The opponents of GM crops says that it is widely accepted that there are several reasons for food shortage and hunger in the third world and the production of food is only one of them. Increasing the amount of food on the planet will not necessarily solve the food crisis faced by millions; in fact it oversimplifies the causes of hunger and starvation in the third world. Escobar attacks this notion of development, which he sees as supported by western governments and prompted by international aid agencies, arguing that such efforts fundamentally and purposefully misidentified the source of the problems in underdeveloped countries in order to enhance their own interest. 21 Since the 1980s, biotechnology companies have promised that genetic engineering would produce crops that deliver higher yields. No such crops have ever been produced, but as fossils fuel supplies dwindle and food prices rise, the belief that higher yielding GM Crops could solve both our fuel and food problems has get momentum and prominence among policy makers government officials and media 22 . In this context the statement given by Dr. David Ehrenfield 23 seems appropriate; "Genetic Engineering is often justified as a human technology, one that feeds more people with better food. Nothing could be further from the truth. With very few exceptions, the whole point of genetic engineering is to increase sales of chemicals and bio-engineered products to dependent farmers." According to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations), the five largest plant biotechnology companies are all large multinational corporations with important interests in agrochemical sales: DuPont, ICI, Monsanto, Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy. 24 These TNCs propagating GM seeds are pushing developing and poor developing countries to a monoculture environment of agriculture. This makes them susceptible to pests and diseases as well as has implications on biodiversity. For example in India there are over fifty thousand varieties of rice, so if some are attacked by pests, the others will survive. Multinationals have also concentrated on high profit crops and not the needs of poor countries. So this rubbishes claims that they are conducting research for solving the worlds food problems. Also focus has been on herbicide resistance rather than on drought resistance; this is to ensure that TNCs also make forays into the pesticide and fertiliser markets.
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Stanley P. Kowalski, Intellectual Property Management And International Capacity Building, Pierce Law Faculty Scholarship Series available at http://lsr.nellco.org/piercelaw/facseries/papers/7 19 Supra note 94 20 Let rationality decide GM O debate, The Nation, August 29, 2007 Wednesday available at http://www.monsanto.co.th/showQAnswer.asp?qNo=838The Nation (Thailand) (accessed on 11-02-2009) 21 See Arturo Escobar, Encountering Development The Making and Unmaking of the Third World, as cited in Joel J. DSilva, GM Seeds Intellectual Property and the Coporatization of food 34 Ban. L. J., (2005). 28 22 The Ecologist, November (2008), at 18 23 David Ehrenfield: Professor of Biology, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA 24 M agdalena Kropiwnicka, Biotechnology and food security in developing countries The case for strengthening international environmental regimes available at http://www.scienceandworldaffairs.org/PDFs/Kropiwnicka_Vol1.pdf

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GM seeds are targeted at large-scale commercial farmers growing cash crops in monocultures. This could undermine food security by, wasting the scarce resources of poorer farmers in developing countries besides. Undermining their rights to use and save seeds. In addition, GM crops are known threats to other plants and insects. They can cross-pollinate with non-GM plants, endangering diverse original varieties, particularly in developing countries.25 The introduction of GM seeds and crops in developing countries will also have severe impacts on their economies. Besides leaving them open to be preyed upon by TNCs and other vested interests, they may be witnesses to upheavals in their labour markets as well as shift from self-sufficiency to an exporting role. Reasons of Hunger: A birds eye view: Hunger in many places is not due to shortage rather due to

lack of access to food, wastage and distribution flaws, in most cases man made. The poor do not have the money to buy food or in some cases are simply prevented from doing so. As pointed out by Amartya Sen, Starvation is the characteristic of some people not having enough food to eat. It is not the characteristic of their being not enough food to eat. 26 A study conducted in India, the third largest food producer in the world shows that food and vegetables worth 350 billion rupees ($7.3bn) are wasted every year in India. The cause is the lack of food processing plants and over 20% of the 601 million tons of food grain produced annually is eaten by rodents. This is while a third of the worlds 800 million hungry live in India. There are reports in regard to wastage of huge amounts of foodgrains rotting away in India 27 at a time when high inflation and rising prices have made the lives of people, especially those below the poverty line, miserable. Although The Supreme Court of India has passed orders to give away food grains supposedly rotting in warehouses to the poor. It may not be easy to implement the Court order in this case. But if wastage is inevitable due to poor storage facilities, distributing the food grains free of cost or at cheaper prices to the poor is a better option. It is true that the Supreme Court should not go into the realm of policy formulation but the government should have ensured that food grains did not rot. It is the duty of the government to create and maintain adequate storage facilities so that not a grain is wasted.
Though it is true that the Green Revolution was highly successful in initially increasing crop yields and aggregate food supplies, it has also been responsible for causing many environmental and socio-economic problems. By its promotion of the industrial farming model, favouring mostly export cash crops producing farms that have enough resources to purchase expensive chemical and mechanic inputs, the Green Revolution has failed to address the issue of food access and contributed to the erosion of genetic varieties in the food systems. The technological change introduced by the Green Revolution has discriminated against small, sustenance-level production, contributing to the loss of food self-sufficiency and agro-biodiversity at the local level among many areas of Asia, Latin America and Africa. The importance of the agricultural sector in developing countries as a source of food, employment, livelihoods and culture cannot be overstated. A productive and sustainable agricultural sector is critical to achieving poverty reduction and economic growth, and maintaining healthy communities. Worldwide, around 70% of the worlds poorest people live in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture for their income, food supply and livelihoods. For India, agriculture remains the backbone of the economy, contributing 21 per cent of GDP and employing 53 per cent of all male workers and 75 per cent of all female workers yet underinvestment in this sector is causing crises for farmers most tragically illustrated by an increasing spate of farmer suicides. 28

Stephen Nottingham, Eat Your Genes How Genetically Modified Food is Entering Our Diet, at 160-164, (1998) Amartya Sen, Poverty and Famines. at1. (1981) 27 The Hindu, September 08, 2010 28 UK Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Integrating Intellectual Property Rights and Development Policy, Report of the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Chapter 3, Agriculture and Genetic Resources, 2002, available at www.iprcommission.org/papers/text/final_report/chapter3htmfinal.htm
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At present, the potential of modern biotechnology for food security in developing countries remains an open question. Firstly, it appears that plant biotechnology research is only likely to benefit poor farmers if it is applied to well defined social or economic objectives 29 .To date, commercialised genetically modified crops have generally not focused on the needs of developing country agriculture. In fact, it is uncertain whether the large life-science companies that are responsible for most of the applied agrobiotechnology research thanks to the incentives provided by IPRs can ever be expected to focus their research efforts on plant varieties of specific interest to poor farmers and consumers in developing countries. Secondly, the scale of overall benefits derived from the introduction of transgenic plant varieties remains a matter of debate when agricultural and other factors, such as environmental and socioeconomic factors are taken into account. Thirdly, according to projections showing an increase in agricultural trade in coming years, it is possible that further specialisation will occur whereby some developing countries may be led to increase the production of non-food cash crops at the expense of basic food crops. This may have significant implications for local and national food security in a context where it is expected that the development of agro biotechnology may lead to further market concentration and where access to genetically modified seeds may be hampered by their higher cost.30 Concluding Observation: At this juncture the author is agree with Magdalena Kropiwnicka that

the present structure of the gene revolution based on profit rather than need- motivated deployment of seed products coupled with enforcement of IPRs and absence of a fully implemented regulatory and biosafety framework, could have a disastrous effect on the developing countries food security 31 . This is why it is necessary to conduct research that addresses particular countries environmental and socio-economic circumstances as well as the needs of the smallholder farmers. Furthermore, independent risk assessment of GMOs needs to be strengthened and national and international guidelines must be developed and supported on biosafety and preservation of biodiversity. All this is necessary to assure that the new technologies will not have a negative effect on global food security.
Thus, new technologies like GM seeds are not the solution to food security in developing countries. GM technologies have great scope and potential in the developing world, but to assert that they will solve world hunger is rather farfetched At best they make a feeble attempt to address some of the symptoms of hunger but not the stark causes of hunger. It is essential that these new technologies be incorporated into other strategies in order to tackle hunger and impoverishment. 32 Thus it is clear that scarcity in food production is not the only reason of food insecurity and TNCs are not researching and developing GM crops for the eradication of food insecurity rather than for their profit. Present research in GM crops shows that research is done in the areas of cash crops like BT cotton and staple food is not given required importance that is necessary for food security. There is a boasting that golden rice will do the miracle with enhanced vitamin A trait but that will not be in the reach of common man. In authors opinion right approach to GM crops is one that is cautiously optimistic. We will need to find a way to increase food output in the future; More food will not be sufficient without addressing the political, economic and administrative issues; Research should be allowed and encouraged to continue to address safety and health concerns.
Charles Spillane, A gricultural Biotechnology and Developing Countries: Proprietary Knowledge and Diffusion of Benefits, in Timothy Swanson ed., Biotechnology, Agriculture and the Developing World The Distributional Implications of Technological Change 67, 72 (2002) 30 Supra note 10 at 322-327 31 Supra note 22 32 Supra note 25 at 29
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