Biotechnology rules

While the jury is still out on the question of the safety of genetically modified organisms (GM0), the Ministry of Agriculture quietly gave its approval this month to the limited sale of transgenic cotton grown in an experimental project at plantations in South Sulawesi. The ministry issued a decree last week giving the green light for the release of these crops to the market, without waiting for a full assessment of the impact that the crops may have, not only on human beings, but also on the biodiversity and the environment where they are grown.

The fact of the matter is that very little is known about their impact. Therefore, the official line, which is to use the precautionary principle, has been the correct one. It was this principle which the government cited when it canceled, at the last minute, a plan to sign an agreement for the release of transgenic crops to the market in October.

That the Ministry of Agriculture has now decided to go it alone, without even bothering to inform the State Minister for Environment Sonny Keraf, is typical of this Cabinet in which its left hand rarely knows what its right hand is doing. But that is the least disturbing aspect of this affair.

The letter of the Ministry of Agriculture decree, and the way it was signed, suggests some impropriety or even foul play which typifies the way government policies have been made in this country for decades. And learning from the experience in October, when the deal was postponed amid strong public protests, this time around, the agreement was signed with little or no publicity. Sadly, as with just about everything else in this country, business interests again prevail over environmental concerns.

The Ministry of Agriculture decree, which marks Indonesia's debut into commercial exploitation of biotechnology, bucks the global trend. The United States, the world leader in the industry, is already having second thoughts because of its potential harm to humans and the environment. While biotechnology food continues to be developed commercially in the U.S., Washington has tightened the regulations, which had hitherto been drawn up by the industry on a "voluntary basis". Europe has vehemently opposed the commercial application of biotechnology, pending more assurance about its safety.

The transgenic Bt cotton plantations in South Sulawesi have been developed under the guidance of PT Monagro Kimia, a subsidiary of the St. Louis-based Monsanto Company. The plantations, 500 hectares in all in Bantaeng and Bulukumba regencies, are now ripe for harvesting. Farmers involved in the project, backed by the local authorities -- and by big money in the industry -- successfully lobbied the Ministry of Agriculture to allow them to sell their products, both locally and abroad.

The prospect is certainly very alluring that it is easy to see why the ministry buckled under pressure. Bantaeng regent Azikin Solthan, who publicly disclosed the existence of the decree last week, boasts that the yield per hectare quadrupled to three tons per hectare using the technology. A farmer can earn an extra Rp 3 million ($315) for every hectare through this system, he says. And since Indonesia's burgeoning textile industry relies heavily on cotton imports, the pressure on the Ministry of Agriculture and the government is even stronger to approve sales of the crops.

But what the Ministry of Agriculture chose to neglect was the fact that there is no guarantee that the technology was safe for people who would use the final products or for the environment where the transgenic cotton crops are grown. Even assuming that preliminary reports found no harmful effects, the very least that the government should do is to compel the use of labels in the products to inform the public of the potential hazards.

Thankfully, the protests by State Minister for Environment Sonny Keraf against the Ministry of Agriculture's decree suggests that the debate in the Cabinet is far from over. This is a matter that is probably too big and too sensitive to be dealt with solely by the economic ministers. Since the debate is likely to boil down to "business versus environmental conservation and public health", President Abdurrahman Wahid or Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri should personally take the matter into their own hands. And public pressure, as happened in October, could help the government in coming to the right decision.