Indian protests: Rajasthan joins GM fight.

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Review performance of GM crops: Gene Campaign Special Correspondent http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/17/stories/2006071715620300.htm `Adequate tests should be conducted to find out scientific and socio-economic impacts of GM crops' JAIPUR: The Gene Campaign -- a voluntary organisation working for food and livelihood security -- on Sunday demanded adoption of genetic engineering and other agriculture-related technologies in the country only after their adequate tests to find out their scientific and socio-economic impacts. All decisions relating to farm technologies should be taken after wide-ranging

consultations with stakeholders, said the Gene Campaign activists, who organised a public debate on the issue in association with the Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants' Society (CECOEDECON) here. Gene Campaign president Suman Sahai told reporters that mindless promotion of genetically modified crops such as Bt cotton had ruined farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab and led to farmers' suicides in large numbers. "Farmers made to believe that GM crops are a revolution realise their mistake when it is too late,'' she said. Calling for a comprehensive review of Bt cotton performance, Dr. Sahai said the policy makers' belief that the GE technology would solve the problem of hunger was contrary to truth. "The adoption of genetic engineering is not going to increase agricultural production. The crops will be expensive and there will be no safe alternative to pesticides,'' she affirmed. The public debate, attended by a large number of experts, farmers and civil rights activists, recommended that GE crop research be conducted only by public sector 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. The rural realities of the country and cultural and religious values should be kept in mind while taking a decision on the issue. Besides, India should adopt a policy like other countries to ban GM crops in their centres of origin, said the 15-point recommendations. Dr. Sahai pointed out that GE technology was not a replacement for conventional breeding and added that significant investments must be made in the latter. The technology, she said, had been designed for giant-size farms, scarce labour and

monoculture and was aimed at promoting big agribusiness. The patenting of all aspects of GE technology by six multinational corporations -- Monsanto, Syngeta, Dupont, Dow, Bayer and BASF -- has created their monopoly in the field, requiring the poor farmers in developing countries to pay to them to get seeds. Dr. Sahai also said the Indo-U.S. Agriculture Initiative would harm national interests in the long run as it would allow Americans to have complete access to the rich and valuable genetic diversity stored in India's gene banks. Two U.S. multinational giants, appointed to the board of the initiative, will use Indian institutions to reach farmers in remote areas in the country. The experts who participated in the public debate included Surjit Singh of Institute of Development Studies, agriculture consultant Kalpana Raghuvanshi, Director of Central Sheep and Wool Research Centre, V.K. Singh, and former Ministers C.P. Joshi

and Chandrabhan. "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

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