Greenpeace activists chain themselves to Bayer headquarters in Mumbai, demanding answers to critical questions on GM crops and food safety
In a letter sent to Greenpeace last week, Aloke V. Pradhan, head
of Corporate Communications states Bayer's future plans for India,
"Overall, Bayer Crop Science India will continue to focus in the
coming years on its conventional plant breeding research
programme." The significance of this pull-out for Bayer, and indeed
the entire genetic engineering industry, cannot be overestimated.
In the second largest country in the world, with 80% of the
population involved in agriculture, the Indian market for
agro-chemical and seed companies is enormous. This retreat follows
two decisions that set Bayer back earlier this year.
In March 2004, the company announced they would be pulling out
of GE crop research in the UK. A few months later, in June, Bayer
announced they would not pursue commercialization of GE canola in
Australia. Bayer's letter to Greenpeace India concedes that
research into engineered cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, tomato and
mustard seed has all been halted.
Earlier this year, after persistent campaigning by Greenpeace,
the Government of India's Department of Biotechnology (DBT) was
forced to share information on what genetically modified crops were
being experimented with in the country. This information revealed,
much to our amazement, that ProAgro (a subsidiary of Bayer Crop
Science) was granted permission to conduct field trials of
cauliflower and cabbage genetically modified (GM) with the
controversial Cry9C gene.
The Cry9C gene is considered to be high-risk because of its
potential to provoke allergic reactions. Possible physiological
reactions to the gene include swelling, rashes and respiratory
distress. In acknowledgement of this risk to human health, the
United States certified that the genetically engineered 'Starlink'
corn, which contained the Cry9C gene, was unfit for human
consumption and restricted its use to animal feed. Bayer - No
Stranger to Cry9C Woes 'Starlink' corn was developed and sold by
Aventis, a subsidiary of Bayer Crop Science. In 2000, traces of the
Cry9C gene were found in several food products made from corn -
clearly indicating that Starlink corn had contaminated, and got
mixed up with, corn intended for human consumption. In a massive
disaster-management exercise that cost Aventis a whopping $100
million in product recalls and lawsuits, more than 300 corn
products had to be taken off supermarket shelves.
In the wake of this disaster, several countries refused to
accept corn originating in the United States - including the
government of India rejecting a food aid shipment because of the
high risk of it being contaminated by Starlink.
Considering the history of the Cry9C gene, Greenpeace confronted
Bayer with some fairly basic questions about their experiments:
1. When Cry9C has been certified as unfit for human consumption,
why did Bayer want to bring it into Indian food crops like cabbage
and cauliflower?
2. Did Bayer conduct the field trial experiments that it had
sought and received approval for? If yes, where were these
experiments conducted? And if not, why did it abandon its plans
after seeking permission?
3. What bio-safety and health safety assessments, if any, were
conducted and what were the results of the same?
4. What did Bayer do with the hazardous genetic material -
plants, seeds and produce - from these field trials? Can they prove
that these have not already entered the food chain?
Bayer responds; contradicts itself even as it spins further untruths.
On 30th September, eleven hours after the Greenpeace protest
began, Bayer issued an official statement that first proclaims that
Bayer "has never done trials involving Cry9C" but then reassures us
that, "These trials were conducted in a contained environment and
were harvested well before flowering." As Divya Raghunandan,
Greenpeace India's GM campaigner pointed out, "This logically
inconsistent statement with its half truths only vindicates our
stand that we are dealing with an irresponsible corporation with
many skeletons to hide."
One Week Later, Bayer continues Stonewalling 'What do You Have to Hide?' Asks Greenpeace
Five days later, at a meeting organized at their request, Bayer
officials once again said they were unable to provide the basic
information we had asked for. They shrugged off the evidence from
the DBT (on their Cry9C experiments) saying it was based on
'historical' data, but refused to respond to any further questions.
When we persisted with questions on the other GM crops they are
associated with (including a GM Mustard, for which Bayer had sought
approval for commercialization in 2002 - a request that was
denied), they asked us to 'send them' our questions yet again and
asked for more time to respond.
"Bayer is a repeat offender as far as poisoning our food goes,"
says Doreen Stabinsky, Scientific Advisor, Greenpeace
International. "Greenpeace has already exposed their double
standards with relation to the production and sale of Class I
pesticides that they have discontinued in their home country; Bayer
is again trying to poison Indians, by using a gene that's been
shown to be unsafe in the rest of the world and banned in the US
for human consumption." Determinedly Seeking Answers While both
Bayer and the DBT evade Greenpeace questions on GM crops and
experiments in our country, we will continue to campaign for
concrete answers.
As Divya Raghunandan says, "It is unacceptable that
multinational companies, in reckless pursuit of profits can play
havoc with the people and environment of our country, while
regulatory bodies like the DBT profess ignorance." "We don't need
genetically engineered crops to feed India," said Divya
Raghunandan, "Around the world, in fact, the promises made by the
genetic engineering industry have been unfulfilled, whether of
increasing crop yields or reducing pesticide use. It doesn't
surprise us that Bayer is giving up GE experiments in India. They
saw the writing on the wall - the Indian public was not going to
accept their manipulated cabbages and cauliflowers - and they cut
their losses. It's time for the rest of the industry to give up on
this misguided and inappropriate technology."
"It is clear that popular resistance to genetic engineering is
not diminishing as the industry had hoped it would," said Doreen
Stabinsky, "No matter what country we're talking about, consumers
are on the same page. They don't want to eat genetically engineered
food. That's good news for farmers and good news for the
environment."
For further information, please contact:
Divya Raghunandan, GE campaigner, Greenpeace India:
+919845535406
draghuna@dialb.greenpeace.org
Doreen Stabinsky, GE campaigner, Greenpeace International:
+1-202-285-7398
Namrata Chowdhary, Media Officer, Greenpeace India:
+919810850092
namrata.chowdhary@dialb.greenpeace.org
Greenpeace India's letter to Bayer Crop Science, Mumbai
Bayer CropScience India's reply to Greenpeace India
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