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Anti-GM food campaigners have made their presence felt at a series of public consultations being held by Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on the Bt brinjal issue
At six public hearings held so far to debate the introduction of Bt brinjal in India, groups opposed to the commercial cultivation of genetically modified vegetables have been vociferous in their opposition. The country’s biotechnology regulator, the Genetic Engineering Approvals Committee (GEAC), approved commercial cultivation of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) brinjal in October 2009, but groups opposed to it have said the process of approval was not transparent and there is no conclusive evidence that GM foods are safe for human consumption. In response to the widespread criticism, Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh has held public consultations in Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Genetically modified (GM) crops have been criticised for making farmers dependent on expensive seeds. They kill native plants and reduce biodiversity. And once they start failing, farmers who borrow huge sums to buy seeds, fertiliser and pesticides stand to lose their livelihood as has happened in the case of several farmers who grew Bt cotton in Maharashtra. Anti-GM food campaigners also fear contamination through cross-pollination. Indian farmers are typically smallholders and there is very little chance of them being able to protect their fields from cross-pollination. “Liability systems need to be evolved first to make GM crop companies pay for economic damages caused, especially to organic farmers,” says Vandana Shiva, international food security campaigner and bio-safety expert who helped develop the Bio-safety Protocol, an international treaty that became operative in September 2003 under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. With brinjal (also called aubergine and eggplant) being native to India and grown in large quantities across the country, many people see little reason for introducing the Bt variety whose main advantage is protection against destructive pests. “The GEAC panel did not address the real alternative to chemical agriculture, which is bio-diverse organic farming that controls pests at the systems level by enhancing the pest-predator balance and by growing crops with pest and disease resilience,” Shiva says. At the Hyderabad consultation, held on January 31, protesters from left-affiliated farmers’ outfits and the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) raised slogans like ‘Bt Go Back’ and mobbed the minister on the dais at the event organised at the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA). Asserting that he would not be influenced by any company or NGO, the minister said he wanted to hold impartial public consultations on the issue. A final decision is expected on February 10. Source: PTI, January 31, 2010
The Hindu Business Line, January 31, 2010
The Guardian, January 14, 2010
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