Four varieties of Bt brinjal (eggplant) were approved for commercial use back in 2013, making Bangladesh the first developing country to approve a genetically engineered vegetable for cultivation.
The Bt brinjal varieties came with promises — faster growth, higher yields, and drastically reduced use of pesticides, which was itself a blessing for smallholder farmers.
But more than a decade later, Bt brinjal or any GMO variant is yet to gain ground in the country.
While GMO crops are promoted as a solution to food insecurity, they remain highly controversial as experts, farmers, and policymakers debate their health, environmental, and socio-economic impacts amid government silence.
So what has gone wrong?
Mohammad Sagor, a farmer from Naogaon district, told Stream that the demand for GMO crops in their area was very low.
"We mostly cultivate local crops, and only a very few farmers grow GMO crops," he said.
But it's not just a matter of pros and cons.
Speaking to Stream, Senior Scientific Officer at BARI, Dr Bahauddin Ahmed Iqbal, said another important factor was at play.
"There is also a psychological factor. Whether people prefer naturally cultivated crops or GMOs depends on perception."
What is GMO?
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2001) of the United Nations defines GMO as "Genetically engineered/modified organisms, and products thereof, [which] are produced through techniques in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination."
The United States globally leads GMO food production, accounting for over 40% of global output.
Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada, and China rank second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth.
Nearly all EU countries, however, currently ban the cultivation of genetically modified crops. But the European Commission is moving closer to easing restrictions on new genomic techniques (NGTs).
A majority of EU governments have signalled support for this compromise, which represents a potential shift in Europe's longstanding anti-GMO stance.
Public scepticism towards GMOs first intensified in 1996 when food safety crises such as contaminated blood, Mad Cow disease, and asbestos scandals eroded trust in institutions.
Many scientists raised concerns over potential health risks linked to GMOs in the mid-2010s.
Monsanto, an American company, also played a role in the growing criticism of GMOs, specifically when its GM cotton was linked to the suicides of thousands of farmers in India. While the suicides stemmed from loans taken to procure the cotton, it was yet another blight on the name of GMOs.
Meanwhile, large-scale studies were undertaken under the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the G-20 agenda for achieving global food security and eliminating hunger by 2030.
The US National Academies of Sciences conducted extensive research and found no significant difference in environmental or health risks between GMO crops and conventional breeding methods.
GMOs are now cultivated in more than 26 countries, including 19 developing and 7 developed nations.
Three US federal agencies — the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) — work together to regulate GMOs, aiming to ensure safety.
Doubts, however, still persist. But more than health concerns, the suspicion comes from something else.
GMO: The Bangladesh chapter
Speaking at a seminar in 2024 titled "GMO Crops: Policy and Practices in Bangladesh", Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, Sir Richard J Roberts, said it was important to prioritise long-term environmental impact studies and assess the consequences of GMO cultivation to evaluate potential risks and benefits.
Chief Scientific Officer of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Dr Md Hafizul Haque Khan, echoed the same.
Speaking to Stream, he said it was difficult to say whether GMO crops would have a positive impact on Bangladesh.
"There are some major criteria, including environmental factors and health hazards," he said.
"Without addressing the challenges, GMOs cannot bring positive results for the country. Although India has developed many GMO crops, they have not yet released those into the market," Dr Hafizul said.
Senior Scientific Officer at BARI, Dr Bahauddin Ahmed Iqbal, said GMO crops have both advantages and disadvantages.
When asked about the negative impact of GMO crops, he said, "The biggest concern about the GMO crops is that the aftereffect of consuming GMO foods on the human body is still unknown, as it takes a long time to investigate something at the gene level. Most countries haven't approved GMO crops yet, so much research hasn't taken place.
"In the case of BT brinjal, a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a gene from a foreign body, was inserted into brinjal. Surely it would have some negative effect on the human body.
"Another threat of using GMO crops is that the GMO plants can cross-pollinate with local, non-GMO varieties. This leads to genetic contamination, where traditional crops lose their genetic distinctiveness. We would eventually lose our own local varieties."
Ok positives, he said, "Bt brinjal significantly reduces the need for farmers to spray harmful chemical pesticides to control pests. Because less pesticide is used, there is a lower risk of pesticide residue on the brinjal, making it safer for consumers. Farmers can now secure better harvests, something that was previously challenging because of pests."
The Golden rice
Another cautionary tale in Bangladesh's GMO scene is that of the Golden Rice.
The Golden Rice, a genetically modified rice enriched with beta-carotene (a source of Vitamin A), was approved by Bangladesh's National Committee on Biosafety (NCB) in December 2019, making the country the first to authorise the grain for commercial release.
But despite the milestone, its rollout faced immense hurdles.
The delays stemmed mainly from regulatory requirements for varietal release, the need for farmers' field-level trials and seed multiplication, as well as ongoing public controversy and debates surrounding GMO safety.
As of 2025, Golden Rice has not yet been commercially distributed to farmers in Bangladesh, although limited trials continue under the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
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