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Effects on health and environment of transgenic (or GM) Bt brinjal

The dossiers submitted by Mahyco in support of their application for commercialisation of genetically modified (GM) Bt brinjal raise serious concerns. Bt brinjal has been modified to produce an unknown chimeric insecticide toxin containing Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac modified sequences. In the toxicity tests on target and non-target insects, this chimeric toxin has not been used but instead, an improper Cry1Ac toxin was used because this control was easier. This could also make these tests not valid. Moreover, Bt brinjal produces into the vegetable cells a protein inducing resistance towards at least kanamycin, a well known antibiotic. This is typical of the first generation of GMOs which have been made without consideration of the problem. Antibiotic resistance is recognized to be a major health problem because of the growing development in the environment and bodies of antibiotic resistance genes.

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