NEWS FROM INDIA
1.Opposition to Genetically Modified crop grows
2.Gene altered brinjal may sneak in
3.GLOBAL LINKS: important websites in India
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1.Opposition to Genetically Modified crop grows
V. Gangadharan
New Indian Express, November 10 2008
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Opposition+to+Genetically+Modified+crop+grows&artid=5ZNndDRJZNg=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=Dr+C+N+Deivanayagam;+Genetically+Modified+vegetabl&SectionName=rSY%7C6QYp3kQ=

Medical practitioners, biotechnologists, farmers and traders are worried over the threat of unhealthy Genetically Modified vegetables making their way into the market.

Voices urging the Centre to prevent entry of these vegetables into the Indian market were raised at a Greenpeace press meet here.

Former Dean, Sri Ramachandra Medical College, and non-official member of Union Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha, Dr C N Deivanayagam said allowing GM crops could spell trouble for India.

Even the field trials for producing GM crops pose a risk to the environment and health, as they are open-air experiments and untested GM seeds could cross-pollinate, contaminating neighbouring crops. Since a GM crop cannot be differentiated from a regular crop, there is a high risk of untested GM seeds or crops getting mixed up with other seeds and grains and entering the food chain, the experts addressing the press meet said.

Dr Sultan Ismail, Professor in Biotechnology, New College, Chennai, said toxic compounds would be retained in plants and transferred to humans when consumed.

“It is actually Genetic Manipulation at the cost of innocent men and women,” he said, adding that people needed safe food and had a right to choose what they wanted to eat.

Dr Ramalingam, President, Indian Medical Practitioner’s Cooperative Pharmacy and Stores Ltd, said the quality and action of a herb would be changed irreversibly and would cause chaos in new formulations and drug approvals. Dr Sivaraman, member of the National Siddha Pharmacopoeia panel said the eyes of those espousing GM varieties had now fallen on even herbs and that was a real threat. “It could annihilate our traditional medicine in no time.”

Vellaiyan and Vettavalam Manikandan spoke on behalf of traders and farmers. The point raised was, “What was the need for GM crops in India?”
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2.Gene altered brinjal may sneak in
V Gangadharan
New Indian Express, 7 Nov 2008
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Gene-altered+brinjal+may+sneak+in:+Greenpeace&artid=3/ORkDal7Co=

CHENNAI: Genetically Modified vegetables, carrying with them health hazards, could soon make it to markets if the Union Government does not intervene, the Greenpeace warned on Thursday. GM Brinjal could be the first to sneak in.

Practitioners of Indian and allopathic medicines, biotechnologists and representatives of farmers’ and traders’ bodies spoke on the threat of GM food crops at a press meet here.

Jai Krishna, campaigner for Sustainable Agriculture with Greenpeace, said GM brinjal was in the final leg of field trial. “If there is no government intervention now, the variety may hit the market quietly within three months,” he said. Brinjal has passed large-scale field trial stage and though the biosafety of the crop has not been independently verified, the government hopes to go ahead with the commercialisation of Bt Brinjal.

Greenpeace warned that Rice, Mustard, Potato, Groundnut, Cabbage, Pigeon pea, Okra, Tomato and Cauliflower were in various stages of trials and all these could be out in the market if the government did not step in now.

GM crops remain mired in controversy. An assessment by UN and the World Bank released this year acknowledges that genetically engineered crops are highly controversial and do not address key problems of climate change and biodiversity.

Globally, GM food has been banned or restricted in the EU, Japan, S Korea and many countries in Africa.

In Tamil Nadu, the TN Agricultural University has been conducting field trials for Monsanto- Mahyco for the past one year.
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3.GLOBAL LINKS: important websites in India

Contacts of groups working on GM issues in India
http://indiagminfo.org/contacts.htm
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India GM Info
http://indiagminfo.org/
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I Am No Labrat (India)
http://iamnolabrat.com/home.php
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Navdanya (India)
http://www.navdanya.org/news/08jun07.htm
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Gene Campaign (India)
http://www.genecampaign.org/index.htm