ISLAMABAD: The administration of the military farms Okara has expressed concerns over toxic contamination in the animal feed made from genetically-modified cotton seed which it said was deteriorating the health of its pedigreed cattle.

The military farm believed that aflatoxin, a type of fungus, had made cattle feed bitter and attacked their reproductive system, especially that of bulls, lowering their sperm count.

In a letter to the vice chancellor of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), the military farms said: ‘A problem of toxicity amongst animals has been found while feeding cotton seed cake of Bt (or genetically engineered) origin’.

The UAF researchers, however, did not attribute aflatoxin contamination to the genetically modified (GM) cotton. Instead, the UAF said in its reply that toxins like aflatoxin developed because of higher temperatures and humidity. Cotton cropping has been extended after Bt cotton was introduced. Sowing now began in February instead of May and June. This could be one reason why cattle did not prefer cotton seed cake, it added.

An official at the Centre of Excellence for Bovine Genetics (CEBG), an independent organisation of Pakistan Army near Okara, confirmed that not only sperm count had reduced but a study proved that milk production as well as life span of farm animals had also decreased.

Military farms says aflatoxin, a type of fungus, may attack the reproductive system of bulls

“The poisonous feed is impacting some of Pakistan’s finest cattle like the Sahiwal and Cholistan breeds. These are such superior breeds that their alternatives cannot be found anywhere in the world,” said the official. He pointed out that the contaminated feed was affecting small farmers the most.

“Aflatoxin contamination in milk for human consumption is 10 to 50 times higher than the permitted level of 2 milligramme (or 200 parts per billion ppb),” said the official.

Experts at the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council do not shrug off concerns of the military farms in Okara.

“Aflatoxin contamination in cattle feed has increased after the introduction of Bt cotton. The feed is a mixture of locally-produced GM cotton seed and imported genetically-modified corn and soya,” said an official at PARC who has been following the issue for two years studying how aflatoxin contamination ‘endangered’ Pakistan’s Nili and Ravi bulls by reducing their sperm count.

Aflatoxins is among some of the highly carcinogenic (cancer causing) substances which after entering the human body results in liver cancer besides damaging the immune system and lowering sperm counts in human and cattle. Aflatoxin fungus is also present in the milk of cows that feed on infected cotton cake (Khal), said the official from CEBG.

The toxic fungus is caused after the pink bollworm (Gulabi Sundi) eats through the cotton plant, leaving holes and exposing the interior of the boll to heat and humidity.

According to documents available with Dawn, multinational companies that produce genetically-modified crop seeds and pesticides had known this problem since the early 1990s when only trials of GM crops were being conducted. Two years before the GM crops were introduced in the world in 1996, a multinational company warned the Environment Protection Agency in the USA about the aflatoxin development after pink bollworm attack.

“Cottonseed produced in Arizona (and regions in which pink bollworm is a significant insect pest) typically have high levels of aflatoxin due to the boll damage caused by the pink bollworm. Often the levels are sufficiently high that the seed cannot be used for animal feed,” Monsanto said in its report, available with Dawn.

Pink bollworm attacks have been reported for the last four years in Sindh. This came as a surprise, especially when Bt cotton was genetically engineered to kill pink bollworm. However, the crop destroying pest has developed resistance against Bt cotton, after the genetically modified crop was officially introduced four years, said the official in PARC. Pink bollworm attack has also reported in Punjab last year.

While multinational companies producing GM seed have been pushing for permission to sell their products such as seeds and pesticides in Pakistan, the government has been delaying commercialisation of genetically modified crops, especially in the absence of laws to regulate imported seeds.

“These companies have been pushing the government to allow commercialisation of genetically-modified crops through an ordinance.

“We will not allow such a thing until laws are made after a debate in the parliament. Such hasty decisions can affect the future generations of the country, including my children,” said Minister of Climate Change, Mushahidullah Khan.

Worldwide, the numbers of countries regulating aflatoxins has increased over years to protect human and animal health.

But there are no figures or analysis of the aflatoxin contamination in food for humans and cattle in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2015

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