Animal Health Hazards Due to Bt Cotton

During our study on Bt cotton Adoption Process in Vidarbha, we witnessed a number of indirect effects of cultivating this GE crop. As Vidarbha is known as the cotton belt of India and Bt cotton is being cultivated here for the past three years, we selected two districts, namely - Yavatmal and Amravati for our study. After three years of cultivation of Bt cotton in this area, its impact has been manifold like socio-economic and, environmental impact as well as the impact on human and animal health. In this article, we are sharing our experiences pertaining to the impact of Bt. cotton on animal health.

While conducting our survey, we visited the Ghatanji block of Yavatmal district.  During our PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) exercise with the villagers, we came across Wasri Tanda village where animal deaths were reported due to grazing on Bt cotton leftovers. We went to Wasri Tanda village where three cattle and 18 goats had died. There are at least six farmers who claim to have lost their animals because they grazed on Bt cotton.

Banjara community, whose primary occupation is animal rearing, form the majority of the village population. There are 100 to 110 families living in this village whose second occupation is agriculture. They have been cultivating cotton as their main crop for many years. However, Bt cotton cultivation has commenced since last two years only.

Wasri Tanda is not the only village where this mishap has taken place, there are a number of other villages where animals have died because of grazing on Bt cotton leftovers. Some of these villages are Narayanpeth and Rajapeth in Ghatanji block, Yavatmal; Phubgaon village in Nandgaon Khandeshwar block, Amravati. But, we went to Wasri Tanda to conduct an enquiry on this issue.

Vilas Sajjan Chauhan, a young and progressive farmer of Wasri Tanda, claimed that two of his cattle have died after feeding on Bt cotton leftovers. During our interaction with him he revealed the symptoms of the disease that caused the death of his cattle. To begin with, the cattle suffered from urinal swelling, which was followed by diarrhea and finally the collapse of the entire excretory system. He called veterinary doctors for the treatment but they were clueless regarding the root cause of the illness and hence, could not treat the cattle. As a result, the cattle died within a span of 15 days. In spite of the age-old traditional wisdom of these farmers, they could not diagnose the disease since they had never come across such symptoms ever before.

For further confirmation, we visited the vets - Dr. Rathore from Yarangaon village and Dr. Jaiswal from Ghatanji town of Yavatmal district. They refused to reveal anything on this issue in the beginning, but suggested later that this might be the result of grazing on Bt cotton waste. They said that Bt (or Bacillus thuringiensis) is a poison that has an adverse effect on the cattle that graze on it. However, these cases are new and we are not sure as yet about its negative impact on animal health and the exact symptoms of the disease.  The doctors are unable to treat the ailing cattle due to the absence of any such cases, but we cannot neglect the farmers’ observation simply on the grounds of being trivial and non-scientific.

To gauge the awareness level of the local people and check the preparedness of the concerned Government department to tackle this novel issue, we talked to the Assistant Commissioner (Animal Husbandry Department), Ghatanji. Instead of providing any satisfactory answers to our queries, he shifted the blame for the non-performance of the Government machinery to lack of sufficient manpower and administrative burdens on him. He, however, assured us that he will take up the issue with his seniors and will certainly send the carcasses of the cattle that are claimed to have died of grazing upon Bt cotton for post-mortem purposes.

This is not the end but the beginning of our investigation on the impact of cultivating Bt cotton on both cattle and human health. Regarding further follow-up on this particular case study on cattle-deaths, we are in regular touch with our local partner Dilasa, an active voluntary organization, based at Ghatanji block, Yavatmal district, Maharashtra.