GM contamination inevitable in India (5/2/2008) | |
'Contamination from GM crops inevitable in India - Evidence with Bt Cotton enough' Hyderabad, February 5, 2008: Releasing a report called 'Cotton, Contaminated?' here today, representatives of Centre for Sustainable Agriculture pointed out that contamination from GM crops is inevitable in India, as the case with Bt Cotton demonstrates. Such contamination has economic, socio-cultural, legal and ecological implications which have not been assessed by regulators, they said. The report was based on field visits to cotton seed production sites in Mahbubnagar and Kurnool districts in Andhra Pradesh and Sabarkantha district in Gujarat, in addition to discussions with cotton breeders, cotton seed producers and organizers, ginners and seed certification agency representatives. Dr Ramanjaneyulu pointed out that biosafety assessments related to contamination only look at pollen flow possibilities and even in such pollen flow studies, the protocols used are quite questionable. These assessments, as in the case of Bt Cotton approved in India, do not try and assess the risks from physical contamination. 'India is the largest organic cotton producer in the world today and we are poised to take major leaps in organic production across different crops. We are also the Centre of Origin and Diversity for crops like brinjal and rice for which GM experimentation is in an advanced stage in this country. It is very clear that the regulators and policy makers have made no assessment of implications on various fronts from contamination flowing out of field trials as well as commercial cultivation', added Kavitha Kuruganti, CSA. CSA demanded that the current assessment protocols be re-cast to capture the real implications of GM crops and contamination from them; they also urged state departments of agriculture to test non-GM cotton seed lots and assess the extent of contamination already present in such seed including in open pollinated varieties. They also alleged that non-GM cotton seed production has been reduced drastically as a market ploy leaving very little seed available to those farmers who wish to remain GM-Free. For more information, contact: Kavitha Kuruganti, CSA at (0) 93-930-01550 or [email protected] G V Ramanjaneyulu, CSA at (0) 93-913-59702 or [email protected] Kavitha Kuruganti Phone: +91-9393001550 |