The Hindu : National : 'GM crops should be geared to the needs of under-privileged'

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Friday, Aug 13, 2004

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'GM crops should be geared to the needs of under-privileged'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 12. The Chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, M.S. Swaminathan, today said the science of biotechnology and genetically modified (GM) crops needed to be geared to the needs of the under-privileged and should maintain the rigours of strict regulation.

Dr. Swaminathan, who as the head of a Task Force on Agricultural Biotechnology had recommended a single-window clearance to GM foods, said there were ideological differences in the country over genetically modified products but some people believed that the progress of science could not be halted.

Addressing presspersons after a conference on Agricultural Biotechnology, he said that we must see how best to use the science for the benefit of people such as for developing salt and drought-resistant varieties of crops. There should be inbuilt safeguards in the proposed Biotechnology Policy for an insurance policy to insulate farmers from any failure of GM crops. "You can't ask the poor to serve public good at personal cost.''

He said there were 110 million farmers in the country, most of whom who could not afford to hire lawyers and hence ran the risk of being bogged down by debt burden in the event of crop failure. Clive James of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications said his organisation was setting up an office in New Delhi for "expanding the knowledge base about GM crops."

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