EXTRACT: "We are requesting as many editors/web site administrators to place an online petition. We need 100,000 signatures from all over the world before 14th December."

The author, Arun Shrivastava can be contacted at [email protected]

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Big GM seeds buccaneers Versus The People of India
Arun Shrivastava http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2006/12/07/big_gm_seeds_buccaneers_versus_the_peopl

The fight intensifies

The India Government is firmly under control of buccaneers of bio-technology and spurious Life Sciences multinational corporations. Despite rules to the contrary, GM experiments have been going on across India with the complicity of the Indian Government. Most importantly, the attack is now on rice.

India is a centre of origin for rice and the centre for diversity for rice genes, in the same way as Mexico is for corn. It is therefore much more than just a rice country. This makes the Government's cavalier attitude to India's Non-GM status for rice, one of irresponsible criminal negligence. In embarking on high-risk field trials of GM-rice, it exposes our rice farmers to contamination by GM including transgenic contamination of wild species and the rice seed stock. If we Indians lose control over local rice seeds we lose our right to food and nutrition. We lose our sovereignty.

Has the Government exercised due diligence?

In granting permission for field trials, the Government of India has failed to protect the people’s interest and health. The Supreme Court of India [SC] in its interim order [1st May 2006] in matter of a Public Interest Litigation [PIL] number 260 of 2006 had directed that an inter-ministerial "Genetic Engineering Approvals Committee" [GEAC] be formed and all applications for field trails be routed via GEAC. This does not imply that the SC had given a carte blanche to GEAC to approve field trials; rather, the directive was to prevent one department [the Department of Biotechnology] from taking unilateral decisions and bring in some discipline.

However, in the '67th Meeting of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee' held on 22.05.2006, the GEAC brushed aside all such concerns and in utter defiance of the spirit of the Order it has rubberstamped an astonishing 91 GM products for multi-location trials [MLTs]

91 approvals in one meeting.

Which forced the Supreme Court to pass another order on 20th September, 2006:

"[Whilst it is ] not inclined to direct stoppage of field trials. At the same time, [the Supreme Court] deem it appropriate to direct the GEAC to withhold the approvals till further directions are issued by this Court on hearing all concerned." [Record of Proceedings, Item No 9, Writ Petition No 260 of 2006; the Supreme Court of India]

Not only that approvals have been rushed through in anticipation of a possible full spectrum ban on field trial in India, activists have been stone walled from obtaining information on locations and type of seeds being tested. It is only after petition under Right to Information [RTI Act of 2005] were filed that some information has been revealed by the Department of Biotechnology.

Thus, the big seed companies [in this instance Monsanto, operating through its Indian Joint Venture partners Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Corporation or Mahyco] have committed crimes against humanity with full connivance of officials of the Department of Biotechnology and members of GEAC [which means several Ministries are also involved, chiefly, the Minister of Agriculture & the Ministry of Environment & Forest].

This is a crime against the people of India and against India's farmers because these approvals have been given knowing the fact that in the last two years, 70% of the farmer suicides in the Maharashtra belt are Bt cotton farmers suicides.

"During the latter part of April, the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) uncovered deadly toxic reaction in sheep and goats in Warangal in AP from grazing in Bt cotton fields in Feb/March, post the last cotton harvest of 2005-2006. Local shepherds estimate the total mortality for the area to be around 10,000 dead sheep and goats." [Page 4, Application for interim order, in the SC of India, No 260 of 2006]

We do not care how many acres have been planted. We do know that six varieties of Bt rice are under open field trials. These are: MRP 5305 Bt., MRP5319Bt., MRP 5401 Bt., MRP5445Bt., MRP 5629 Bt., and MRP5631 Bt.

Whilst Bt rice trials have been approved in 10 out of India’s 25 states, we suspect that the total area where GE field trails have been slipped in, without knowledge of the poor farmers who rented their lands, could be significant.

This is not a new war

The United States of America declared a war on Indian rice [and food security] way back in the early 1960s when India's No 1 scientist mole, Dr M.S. Swaminathan, stole the gene bank of rice, evolved over decades by Dr Riccharia, and passed it over to the Americans. How many genetic varieties have been stolen? No one really knows.

Swaminathan was the main dramatis personae in what is known as "the great[est] gene robbery" in the history of mankind. [See, "The Great Gene Robbery", by Dr Claude Alvarez, The Illustrated Weekly of India, March 23-April 5, 1986]

India had 120,000 varieties of rice seeds; today, no more than 50 are available. This is United States’ war on genetic diversity, ably supported by scientist-criminals like MS Swaminathan. And the worst crime of the Indian Government is to have these criminals head Agriculture Policy of India. At age 75, Swaminathan lives to lord it over many Expert Committees, including crucial ones in the Ministry of Agriculture. The deadly tentacles of this hydra-headed monster extend in many ministries of the Government of India. From early 1960s, Swaminathan has been the front of the Rockefellers, implementing their agenda with full support of the US Government. [See: www.GMWatch.org]

Emboldened by a deliberately errant Indian Regulator, which is malfunctioning with intent and deliberation to support a pro GE agenda, and the open support of USAID, the GM seeds producers are furthering the agenda of destroying India's food sovereignty a