July 17, 2006

 

Indian organisation urges review of GM crops

 

 

The Gene Campaign -- a voluntary organisation working for food and livelihood security -- on Sunday (Jul 16) said adoption of GM crops and other agriculture-related technologies should proceed only after adequate tests have been done to find out their scientific and socio-economic impacts.

 

All decisions relating to farm technologies should be taken after consultations, said the Gene Campaign activists, who organised a public debate on the issue.

 

Gene Campaign president Suman Sahai said reckless promotion of GM crops such as Bt cotton had ruined farmers in several Indian states.

 

Farmers were led to believe GM crops are the beginning of an agricultural  revolution but realised the mistake too late, she said.

 

Calling for a comprehensive review of GM crop performance, Dr. Sahai said the belief that GE technology would solve all food problems is a fallacy.

 

The adoption of genetic engineering is not going to increase agricultural production, she said, adding that expensive GM crops are no substitutes for pesticides. 

 

The public debate, attended by a large number of experts, farmers and civil rights activists, recommended that GM crop research be conducted only by government institutions to keep the technology in the public domain and a proper analysis of its positive and negative impacts be made.

 

The participants felt that the adoption of new technology should be on a case-to-case basis, with an eye to the rural realities of the country and cultural and religious mores.

 

The debate also said India should adopt a policy to ban GM crops in their centres of origin.

 

Sahai said GM technology had been designed for industrial-size farms benefiting big agribusinesses. The full patenting of GE technology held by six multinational corporations has created a virtual monopoly which forces poor farmers in developing countries to pay these companies to get seeds, she said. 

 

Dr Sahai also derided the Indo-US Agriculture Initiative, saying it would harm national interests over the long term as it would allow foreign companies to have complete access to the genetic diversity stored in India's gene banks.