Press release - June 28, 2007
BANGALORE, India — Prompted by the imminent decision of the government to approve large scale open air field trials for genetically modified (GM) food crops; hordes of tomatoes, corn, potatoes, brinjals, and lady's fingers committed mass suicide yesterday in the garden city.
Living vegetables perform the last rites of their beloved martyr friend the Corn.
This was followed by a funeral today. The dead body of a martyr
corn was carried in a hearse from the Mahatma Gandhi statue to the
Spencer's daily on the MG Road by his other vegetable friends.
Greenpeace volunteers then gathered in front of the Spencer's daily
to distribute 'Sabji Times', the vegetable bulletin that chronicled
the disaster.
"The imminent approval of the field trials would mean that our
food is one step closer to being dangerously unsafe. The health of
citizens and the environment of this country is at risk" said Divya
Raghunandan, GE campaigner from Greenpeace.
"We have recorded cross pollination, genetic contamination and
even mixing up of GM test crops over the past few years and
demanded that regulatory procedures be overhauled. We have weak and
poor laws and even worse implementation and the open air field
trials, if permitted it very likely to end up in the plates of
unsuspecting consumers".
GEAC in their meeting on 22nd May had postponed a decision as
the seed companies who have proposed the field trials could not
provide a test protocol to detect contamination as stipulated by
the law. It is scheduled to meet again soon.
Last year Indian agri-exporters had opposed the field trials of
GM rice because consumers in Europe and the Middle East strongly
reject GM food for safety reasons. Government regulations in these
regions are stringent and exporters of food from India fear heavy
penalties if their stocks were to be detected with GM
contamination.
"Consumers in India do not have to be passive guinea pigs in
this large scale experimentation taking place at their expense. We
have a right to choose what we eat and must demand from our
government and food corporations an emphatic statement that our
favourite brands are free of GM contamination", said Divya
Raghunandan.
Do visit www.dontmesswithus.org
and write the letter to take action to save our food from becoming
GE.
For further information, contact
Divya Raghunandan, GE Campaigner, Greenpeace India
Mobile: +91 9845535406 email: 
Jayashree Nandi, Media Officer, Greenpeace India
Mobile: +91 9343868011 email: 