Terminator Iii

Arnold Schwarzeneggar would have loved this plot. It goes like this: a profiteering multinational has developed a technology to prevent germination of seeds saved from harvest. Farmers would be forced to buy seeds only from that company, making them permanently dependent upon foreign seeds.

The technology is appropriately called "terminator" to indicate a stop to the propagation process. This is done by introducing a gene that makes the seeds good for only one propagation cycle.

If this had been a Hollywood plot, the good guy in Schwarzeneggar would have busted this company's research establishment and destroyed the blueprints of the technology that spells doom for the world's farmers.

Unfortunately, this is real life and the US patents office has issued a patent to the US Agriculture Department and two cotton seed manufacturing companies, Delta Inc. and Pine Land Inc, for their high yielding, disease resistant seeds. The patent means potential disaster for poor farmers in third world countries.

Today the technology may be used for cotton, tomorrow it could be applied to a host of other agricultural produce like wheat and rice and the next thing to expect will be very high seed prices. Importantly, farmers will no longer be able to fine tune seed quality to their agroclimatic characteristics. The general practice is to purchase first generation seeds that, in continuing harvest and planting cycles, improves yield and disease resistance.

Genetic technology is transforming agriculture, some for the better, some for the worse. Improvements like disease resistance, increased productivity and flavouring characteristics to agricultural produce are the most common aspects of this science. However, technologies like terminator show how easy it is to use genetic engineering to meet narrow purposes that could play havoc with something as significant as the world's food security.

Countries like India, which are largely dependent on inexpensive agricultural practices, should protest against developments like this. This is one form of technological hegemony that the West has been imposing on unsuspecting countries. In South America, US companies improve upon naturally grown fruit through genetic engineering and sell it back in Brazil or Argentina at several times the local price. Thankfully, India does not allow product patenting in agriculture or the two US companies would have lost no time in patenting their terminator seeds in India, among the world's largest markets for high yielding seeds.

In fact, the real threat to India and other developing countries does not come from the military might of the West but from superior technology used in everyday goods _ agricultural produce and pharmaceuticals. The sooner this threat is recognised and thwarted the better. The Paris Convention on Patents that India is being pressured to join will force upon it certain obligations like accepting foreign patent rights if they have been granted in a certain number of countries. This is the time to look carefully before taking the leap.

India may claim to be advanced in agricultural technology, but in frontier areas like genetic engineering, it is way behind. Some initiatives started by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) have not been successful

The Indian government had started the DBT following the worldwide excitement over the possibilities of genetic manipulation. After a decade, the DBT is still groping on the periphery of this technology, despite a number of joint ventures. This is because foreign organisations do not wish to share details of their latest technology. Like the space and atomic energy programmes, India must realise that independent research is the only way out.