The Hindu : National : Manmohan urged to ban field trials of genetically modified food crop

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Tuesday, Jul 11, 2006

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Manmohan urged to ban field trials of genetically modified food crop

Special Correspondent

Farmers' unions say GM technology is unsustainable and expensive

— Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

`NO' TO BT BRINJAL: Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movement protesting against the Centre's permission to allow trials and seed production of Bt Brinjal in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI: The Bhartiya Kisan Union, the Shetkari Sangathan of Maharashtra, the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Samithi and the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association on Monday joined hands to lead a farmers' agitation against the proposed introduction of Bt brinjal, the first genetically modified (GM) food crop.

The farmer leaders, who led the demonstration at Jantar Mantar here, presented a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded a total ban on open-air large-scale field trials of GM food. Later, they met Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Minister for Environment and Forests A. Raja.

Rejecting GM technology as unsustainable and expensive, they said it was not suited to a country like India where 80 per cent of the farmers were small and marginal.

Bt brinjal has a bacterial gene, whose patent is owned by the U.S.-based Monsanto seed company. Monsanto's Indian subsidiary Mahyco has approached the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) for field trials. The committee has invited comments from stakeholders on bio-safety and socio-economic studies by July 15.

"Answerable to farmers"

"Brinjal is grown by millions of small and marginal farmers across India. Any government must be answerable to millions of farmers if it wants to stay in power. We condemn the Government's plan to introduce GM food crops without proper long-term studies of its impact on people's health and environment and on the socio-economic realities of farmers of the country. The unprecedented haste by the GEAC to approve Bt brinjal seed raises suspicion," said Yudhvir Singh, president of the Delhi unit of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, which represents the north Indian States.

The Monsanto-Mahyco company, responsible for Bt cotton, has now applied for marketing Bt brinjal. "This company is in contempt of court for refusing to reduce the patent fee on Bt cotton seeds despite a court order in Andhra Pradesh."

Vijay Jawandiya of Shetkari Sangathan warned farmers against the dangers of GM crops.

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