Inder Verma, top American generic engineer and advisor to the Indian government says genetically modified seeds are necessary because resources to grow food are limited.
As India grapples with whether to introduce the first genetically modified food crop in the form of genetically modified mustard into the farmer's fields or not, a top American genetic engineer and an advisor to the Indian government weighs in on India's capabilities as an emerging biotech giant.
Inder Verma, who works at the famous Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in California and is a pioneer in gene therapy and cancer research, believes GM mustard is good for India as it may reduce the edible oil import bill and is also excited by the fact that an Indian company has developed a vaccine against the Zika virus.
Verma is currently the editor of the noted American science journal "The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)".
Excerpts from an interview:
Q: India is grappling with whether to introduce genetically modified mustard or not, there is a raging debate, a petition is pending in the Supreme Court, do you think India should introduce GM mustard in the farmer's fields?
A: I believe that GM foods are very important component as the world becomes larger and more people are born and we need an improved quality of food. I'm overall a great supporter of the GM foods because I think they are an essential need if you want to feed the world.
Q) So should India embrace GM foods?
A) In my opinion, India should embrace genetic engineering, because the land is limited, water is limited and fertilisers are limited, so for feeding so many people there is only one way and that is through genetically modified plants. GM mustard is such a plant because it uses less water and yields more, so definitely it is very important for India.
Q: Recently there was also this announcement of a breakthrough an Indian company Bharat Biotech Ltd, of Hyderabad which is headed Krishna Ella, that they were the first company in the world to have a candidate vaccine for the Zika virus, and they have two patents on it, does it excite you as a molecular biologist, that India is taking such a lead?
A: Oh I'm very excited, particularly because I know Krishna Ella, he has been at it for quite some time, he has been involved with Hepatitis virus he has been involved with the Rota virus and if they say such a Zika vaccine has been developed at the moment, I think it's fantastic.
This shows how all countries can participate, if they have the intellectual bandwidths, and this is a very good example.
Right now the world needs the Zika virus vaccine, particularly because the Olympics are going to be held in Brazil, so I'm actually very excited that if such a vaccine is there and it's efficacious and can be used I think it's marvellous.
Q) Is the development of the Zika virus vaccine by an Indian company a big leap?
A) When I first read this news, I was very happy because India developed such a vaccine that the other countries were only thinking of developing. Bharat Biotech has been able to develop a vaccine for Zika virus because they have tremendous experience.
Prior to this they have also developed many vaccines for other viruses also, namely the Chikungunya virus, and the Rota virus. If the vaccine is as good as the claim, many people will be impressed by the fact that India can develop such a top rate vaccine.
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