Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW Vol. 4 Num 222 Fri. January 09, 2004       Letters to Editor Gene revolution Prof. Zeba Seraj, Dept. of Biochem. & Mol. Biol. University of Dhaka Mr. Bayezid Dawla has made some sweeping remarks against the 'Gene Revolution' in an article entitled 'Gene revolution and genetic contamination' in your esteemed daily (Jan. 4). He has predicted that the gene revolution will bring forth, 'an erratic, horror-stricken future.' His remarks could be likened to saying, 'since knives can kill people, these should be banned.' Any technology has its good and bad sides. It is for Bangladesh to first judge rationally whether in particular cases, tools of biotechnology and genetic engineering can help overcome problems which have eluded our breeders, because we need to double our food production in the next 20 years. Current strategies in yield enhancement have already been exhausted and yields of cereals have reached a plateau since the last 3-4 years. If the opinion is positive, scientists and planners may need donors o fund research into producing suitable varieties for Bangladesh, or do some cost-benefit analysis to find out the feasibility of the approach. We cannot simply buy seeds being produced by the multinationals. The multinationals have not produced transgenic rice -- and even if they did, their varieties will not grow well in Bangladesh. We can however think of buying the license to the gene of interest and introducing it into our varieties. Safety measures for producing these transformed plants and other organisms are very rigorous all over the world and unless we have these measures in place, we will not be permitted to use this technology. One exception is China, which has released Bt rice resistant to the major rice pests and this is doing extremely well with farmers. It is of no use citing Europe's aversion to genetically modified crops-they have plenty of food and their citizens can enjoy the luxury of choosing what they eat.