Genetic engineering is what's going on right now, under your
very nose, in your own backyard. But first, a word about why you
should be worried about any of this in the first place.
What’s wrong with Genetically Engineered food?
Genetically Engineered (GE) food crops are created by injecting
foreign genes into plants to create 'new' life forms that are
designed to perform certain specific functions. GE can have
unexpected and unintended effects because the process is imprecise
and random. GE crops threaten food safety because gene disruption
or instability may lead to new toxins being produced; and the new
protein produced by the foreign gene may cause allergies or
toxicity.
For instance, CSIRO scientists in Australia have just announced
they've pulled the plug, all fingers badly burnt, on research on GE
peas because the stuff is causing bizarre allergies in mice.
Why can’t GE be contained?
Now
that you know this, it should interest you to know that not all
this 'research' is conducted in controlled test conditions. Sooner
or later, it all gets out in the open.
Field trials are open-air experiments of GE crops conducted in
fields. They pose a risk to the environment and health because
these untested GE seeds could cross-pollinate and therefore
contaminate neighbouring crops. Since a GE crop cannot be
differentiated from a regular food crop, there is high risk that
untested GE seeds or crops may get mixed up with other seeds and
grains and enter the food chain.
Scared? You should be. Now here's the really frightening
part.
As you read this, there are 21 food crops - including rice,
cabbage, brinjal, and banana - being tested right now in 16
locations across India. There are as many as 68 separate GE
experiments being carried out on these crops. 18 different public
(and 3 private) research institutes are involved, as well as 3
foundations and 2 international agriculture institutes.
GE brinjal, it is believed, is just months away from your
plate.
A map so explosive, they’ll wish it didn’t exist.
Greenpeace
campaigners discovered that there was no information available
about the extent of GE research on food crops being carried out in
the country. We painstakingly began putting the bits and pieces of
information together from a multitude of sources. We carried out
sneak previews into government laboratories and field trials to
learn what's being done to our food, and to expose what the
public-private partnership of scientists has been reluctant to
share with us for the longest time. In some cases, faced with smoke
and mirrors, we had to invoke the Right To Information Act.
What emerges is a murky picture of beguile. The
GE Hotspots Map of India (right click to enlarge) brings out the
extent of how far ahead the government has gone. It says one thing,
and does the other. As a signatory to the Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety, the government is bound to uphold the precautionary
principle. The reality on the map clearly shows it really doesn't
care.
Revealing not just the extent of GE research in the country, but
also the advanced stage that many of these experiments are in, this
map has everything you wanted to know about genetic contamination
of your food, but didn't know where to look.
Where does it all go from here?
The current dispensation seems to suggest that corporate greed,
not independent scientists, should decide what is safe to eat.
Now, while it's completely expected that profiteering companies
will show disdain for people's health, why are our elected leaders,
custodians of public health and safety, behaving irresponsibly?
This is not acceptable. Greenpeace maintains that
GE food is unsafe to eat and has campaigned hard to ensure that
India remains GE-free. The Indian Council for Medical Research
echoes our concerns in a report it published in April 2004.
Just recently,
illegal GE rice in China from similar field trials found its
way into the market and the food chain. It was enough for the
chastened Chinese government to review its position and get
sober.
The Indian government, on the other hand, is displaying all the
signs of a stark raving blind drunk.
It's clear that we're now sitting on a
ticking GE time bomb. Given the scale of GE field trials
evident in the GE Hotspots Map, it's no longer a case of if but
when.
Click here to see the GE
Hotpots Map
View the GE
FAQ
View the related
Press Release