Tamil Nadu - Udhagamandalam   

Demonstration against genetically modified food items

— Photo: D. Radhakrishnan

Say no: Damanding a ban on genetic engineering, members of the Tamil Nadu Environment Council staging a demonstration opposite the Collectorate in Udhagamandalam on Monday.

Udhagamandalam: Demanding a ban on genetically modified (GM) food items, a demonstration was staged opposite the Collectorate here on Monday under the aegis of the Tamil Nadu Anti-Genetic Engineering Movement and the Tamil Nadu Environment Council (TNEC).

Among those who participated were members of the Island Trust, Nilgiris Women’s Collective, Tamil Nadu Green Movement, People’s Law Centre, farmers associations and consumer outfits.

The organiser, TNEC, the Nilgiris Chapter, M.L. Alphonse Raj, who led the demonstration, expressed the hope that farm related agencies such as Agricultural Universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), Departments of Agriculture apart from the bureaucracy and judiciary would ensure that the genetically modified food items do not enter the country in any form.

He said that the highest priority should be given to protecting the health of the people.

Lessons should be learnt from the risks taken while promoting the green revolution. Studies had shown that even mother’s milk contained pesticide residues.

The gullible masses should not be taken for a ride by the proponents of GM food items.

Consumers should be on guard to keep at bay multinational companies which promoted GM food items.

The State and Central Governments should bar entry to such items.

Using GM seeds in agriculture affected the bio-diversity of the area.

They triggered growth of weeds and affected the fertility of the soil.

The population of insects also increased.

Expressing the fear that the unbridled promotion of GM items would in the long run affect food security, he said that the technology was anti-ecology.

Like the green revolution which only benefited the companies which manufactured chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the genetic engineering technology would only help the MNCs.

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