By Harish Damodaran

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has permitted Monsanto
India Ltd to conduct limited field trials of corn hybrids that are
genetically modified (GM) to confer resistance to the corn borer insect pest
and application of its ?Roundup? herbicide, according to highly placed
sources.

The sources said the clearance for ?bio-safety research level-1 field trials
under confined conditions? of the GM corn (maize) hybrids was granted at
GEAC?s meeting last week.

3-4 years
?It basically allows the company to carry out bio-safety trials in one-acre
plots at select State Agricultural University-owned farms. These will be
followed by level-2 trials on bigger 2.5-acre plots, which would then set
the stage for largescale trials on farmers? fields. It will probably take
3-4 years for the product to be finally released for commercial cultivation?,
they added.

3-gene combination
Monsanto?s GM corn hybrids basically contain a three-gene stacked
combination. Two of these genes (cry1A.105 and cry2Ab2), derived from
Bacillus thuringiensis (a common soil bacterium) and based on a proprietary
?89034 event?, code for proteins that act against to a broad spectrum of
lepidopteran insect pests. These include the European corn borer, Asian corn
borer and sugarcane borer.

The third gene (?NK603 event?) allows the corn hybrids to be Roundup-ready?,
i.e. tolerant to application of glyphosate, the active ingredient in
?Roundup? herbicide. Monsanto is now selling its ?Roundup? herbicide
formulations in the country mainly for pre-emergent use, i.e. prior to the
plant?s vegetative growth stage.

While spraying glyphosate on ordinary corn destroys the crop along with the
weeds (as the chemical cannot distinguish between the two), the corn that is
genetically engineered to resist ?Roundup? confines the potency to just the
weeds, making it amenable to post-emergent applications as well.

Monsanto India profit
During 2007-08, Monsanto India reported a profit after tax of Rs 54.30 crore
(excluding profits from divesture of product lines) on net sales of Rs
363.54 crore. The bulk of the company?s sales come from two businesses ?
hybrid corn seed and ?Roundup? herbicides. Over the last couple of years,
Monsanto has sold all its other herbicide product businesses, including
butachlor and alachlor (?Machete?, ?Fastmix? and ?Lasso? brands) and
sulfosulfuron (?Leader?).

Potential
?Through GM corn, the company would be looking to boost sales of its seeds
as well as herbicide formulations. With farm labour becoming increasingly
costly as well as unavailability, there is obviously potential for replacing
manual weeding with herbicides, the marketing for which is growing annually
by 15-20 per cent,? the sources pointed out.

www.checkbiotech.org