1.BJP not for GE paddy crops in TN
2.Farmers want GE trials stopped
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1.BJP not for GE paddy crops in TN [shortened]
Chennai Online, November 16 2006 http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7BAD6070D7-90C5-4453-835C-28537A9F6FCF%7D&CATEGORYNAME=TAMNA

Tiruchirappalli, Nov 16: Tamil Nadu unit of BJP has demanded destruction of the crops at the 12 "trial blocks" in the state where Genetically Engineered paddy has been reportedly cultivated.

Speaking to reporters here, party state vice-president H Raja said introducing GE crops was a "major conspiracy" of multinational companies to take over the agriculture sector which is in the hands of thousands of farmers across the nation.

Besides, it is suspected that GE seeds contain toxic materials, he added.
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2.Farmers want GE trials stopped
Statesman News Service, November 15 2006
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=137002

CHENNAI, Nov. 15: After destroying (Genetically Engineered) GE crop experimentally planted in a 25 cent land at Alandurai in Ramanadhapuram village in Coimbatore district in a surprise move last week, the Tamil Nadu Velan Kappu Kuzhu (Tamil Nadu Agriculture Protection Group), a collective of farmers association, consumer groups and environmental organisations, have declared war on all field trials across the state and have given a call to the Indian government to bring a ban on all such experiments.

The association has come in for strong support from Greenpeace which is supporting them in Tamil Nadu while taking the initiative in other parts of India. The group declared that the government has failed to learn its lessons from the failed BT cotton experiments in Vidharbha in Maharastra and in Andhra Pradesh where farmers committed suicide, and said that further inaction will prove disastrous for human lives.

The activists in a surprise move on 10 November shocked the State when they entered a 10 acre paddy field where Baccilus thuringiensis (BT) rice was planted amid normal local crop plantation (done to prevent transfer through pollination) and uprooted and destroyed the GE rice crop in protest.

Those who participated in the demonstration belonged to various movements in Tamil Nadu, including the Tamil Nadu Green Movement, Tamil Nadu Organic Farming Movement, Tamil Nadu Farmers Union of the CPI, Pasumai Thayagam of the PMK and the Farmers Toilers Party.

The 10-acre plot belonged to a farmer Rangadurai, who was ignorant of such a trial taking place. The land was taken on lease by a private seed company called Mahyco for the trials. The activists alleged that Mahyco was just a front of the US based Monsanto, one of the MNCs involved in research and field trial of GE crops.

Mr Nammazhvar, veteran organic agriculture scientist, slammed the contention that MNCs were sinking crores to "wipe out hunger". "Farmers are knowledgeable of the technology needed to save their crops from pests as well as to increase crop production. Before 1950 no farmer used pesticide. Scientists in the name of Green Revolution have only harmed farming and consequently human interests itself in the last 50 years, a fact acknowledge by scientist M S Swaminathan himself, who spearheaded the project," he told reporters in Chennai on Wednesday.

He also called a lie the contention of the scientist that this was a necessary project in the interest of humanity. "The GE crop farming which kills bio-diversity would concentrate crop control in MNCs hands and will make farmers dependent upon companies for the seeds," Mr Nammazhwar, who has been in the forefront of the movement, said.

Mr Chellamuthu of the Farmers Toilers Party, who was among those against whom the company has filed a case for the 10 November destruction, said he would not be cowed down by any action against the movement activists. He said he would work towards creating awareness among the public and will also meet the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr M Karunanidhi, demanding a ban on GE crops in the state.

Stating that there was a cyclic ignorance that the scientific community was exploiting, Mr Selvam, an organic farmer from Erode district, said: "IAS officers do not know science and scientists tell lies and the politician belives that the scientists are telling the truth." In the land leased for field trial, which in itself is a violation as it must be done in glass houses and not in the open, the IAS officer, the activists allege, conceals the fact that the trial is for GE crops. The trial is termed as one done for rice loaded with "proteins", whereas the protein here is a toxin.

Greenpeace activist Ms Divya Raghunandan pointed out that the Planning Commission during one of its deliberations on the 11th plan had even invited Monsanto officials to take part. The Indian government is also attempting to perpetuate a double standard by framing a draft on biotechnology policy which envisages a certification of all crops meant for exports that they are not genetically engineered. "It reflects the flawed vision of the government of India which proposes one standard for food consumption of Indians and another for foreign nations," she said. GE crops are banned in most developed nations, she added.

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