Rice exports may face harm

The controversy over the presence of genetically modified (GM) rice in rice exports from India to the European Union (EU) has the potential to do much harm to rice exports from the country. A French manufacturer of rice flour has said that it had found unauthorised GM rice in a consignment of 500 tonnes of broken rice from India this June. The EU does not permit the use of GM rice on the ground that its impact on health and environment is yet to be fully understood. GM crops are developed from plants whose genes are artificially modified by importing into them genetic material from others to give them new properties like higher yield and resistance to pests. After India was identified as the origin of GM rice, EU countries and the US were alerted about it. Some manufacturers of confectionery and bakery items that had used the rice flour recalled their products after the alert.

India does not allow commercial cultivation of GM crops, except Bt cotton. But some varieties of GM rice are being tested in trial plots by research groups. Though there are regulations that prevent GM rice from going out of the test areas it is suspected that some leakages have happened. In the case of Bt cotton, there were reports that cultivation had actually happened before it was officially cleared for commercial farming. This may have happened in the case of Bt brinjal also, though it has not yet been cleared for cultivation. Agricultural universities and other research groups which do the testing and trials of GM crops have interactions with farmers. So the possibility of transfer of seeds to farmers’ fields cannot be entirely ruled out. This has been cited as a reason for the possible contamination of non-GM crops.

The commerce ministry has said that the EU has still not conclusively proved that the source of contamination was India, and has suggested that it could have happened during the processing of rice flour in Europe. It has initiated an investigation into the matter, and there are reports that a Maharashtra trader has been identified as the source of contamination. The matter should be viewed seriously and it must be ensured that exports meet the best standards of quality and comply with the importers’ demands. This is important because rice exports earn about Rs 65,000 crore for the country and are an important source of income for farmers. Contamination of rice exports from the US with GM rice some years ago had led to the suspension of imports from the country by many countries and attracted damages. The controversy also underlined the need for a more effective regulatory regime for testing and trials of GM crops in the country.