Farmers, consumers and environmental activists protest against an open-air field trial of BT brinjal being conducted by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University
The Bt Brinjal field trial, belonging to Monsanto Mahyco, is
being conducted by the university to fulfill the mandatory field
trials that are required to allow commercial release of GE food
crops. If the trials are completed successfully, it will pave way
for the first GE food crop to be sold in the market.
The field trials of such crops are being conducted across the
country in more than 50 locations. There are more than 21 crops
that are being genetically engineered in India; most of them are in
field trials. None of them have completed the mandatory tests for
human safety yet, still thousands of acres of GE crops have already
been grown.
"The farmers do not want this technology. This university which
is funded by the taxpayers money of the state must go by its
primary mandate of serving the farmer and not a corporation,"
exclaimed Sivasubramanian, Erode district committee member of the
Tamil Nadu Farmer's Association.
Apart from the fact that the biosafety norms(1) are being
ignored, the existing data that has been generated by the company
itself has not been disclosed for any independent analysis by the
company which has been citing reasons of commercial confidence and
that the disclosure of the data would affect their businesses. The
decision to conduct the field trials in public funded institutions,
was taken in September 2007 by the GEAC.
Sathriyasekar of Pasumai Thaayagam who was part of the group
said, "We had seen trials of Bt rice done by Mahyco last year at
Alandurai, which had serious biosafety violations risking
contamination. Now we are seeing Mahyco having trials at the
university risking contamination to all other crops around."
"The university has in its past research on IPM techniques (2)
has proved that there are alternatives to Genetic Engineering.
Innumerable case studies of successful organic farming that can
fight pest attack and give higher yields and income are being
practiced by farmers across Tamil Nadu which have not even been
analysed by this university. Encouraging Genetic Engineering is
only helping the companies gain profit," added Selvam of the Erode
District Organic Farmer's Collective.
The university is leading in the number of agreements signed
with mahyco Monsanto - the leading agri biotech company in India.
Two agreements, one on brinjal and one on papaya. have been signed
during 2005 and 2007 respectively.
For further information, contact
Selvam, Secretary, Erode Organic Farmers’s Collective, + 91-9443663562
Sathriya Sekar, Deputy State Secretary, Pasumai Thayagam, +91-9360224075
Notes to Editor
1.Thamizhaga velan kappu kuzhu is an umbrella organization of farmer groups, organic farmers, and environment and consumer groups. It consists of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, Tamil Nadu Green Movement, FEDCOT- Federation Of Consumer Organisations Of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Tamil Nadu Organic Farming Movement and Pasumai Thayagam
2.Integrated pest management IPM techniques are used for optimizing the inputs used in farming with careful monitoring of the farm and the crops.