Truth about Bt brinjal

This refers to the letter “Why this propaganda against Bt brinjal?” by Md. Ali Hossain, published in TDS on November 18. There is no propaganda; it is the fact about Bt brinjal as published in TDS on November 1 by Samshad Nowreen. On January 22, 2014, the agriculture minister handed over the Bt brinjal saplings to 20 farmers in Gazipur, Jamalpur, Sherpur, Rangpur and Pabna for cultivation. Only one of the 20 Bt brinjal fields succeeded while 13 were fully and the rest six were partially damaged. The farmers demanded compensation (The New Age, September 1, 2014; The News Today, September 8, 2014; The New Age, May 7, 2014).

Many international organisations and individuals including Japanese Citizens Network for Sustainable Food & Agriculture protested against the release of Bt brinjal in Bangladesh. Bangladesh, a country of origin of brinjal is obligated to save it from genetic pollution (Cartagena Protocol). Bt brinjal is a GM product and has all the adverse impacts and threats of genetic modification including death, allergy, cancer, surviruses, antibiotic threats, resurgence of infectious diseases, birth defects, interior toxins, lowered nutrition, toxicity to soil, extinction of seeds, super pests, killing beneficial insects, poisonous to mammals etc.

Another thing, in his letter Md. Ali Hossain has confused the readers by mentioning BR-II rice (Gazi). It should be corrected either as BR-II rice (Mukta) or BR-14 rice (Gazi).

Dr. M.A. Sobhan
Mirpur-1, Dhaka