GM Cotton:Monsanto must be held Responsible

[Guest guest]

GM cotton story gets bigger -- `Uproot & destroy' begins on Gujarat

farms

Vinod Mathew

GANDHINAGAR, Oct. 20

 

GUJARAT'S genetically-modified (GM) cotton story has taken a new

twist with State Government officials today visiting farms and

telling farmers they would have to ``uproot and destroy'' the crop.

 

According to farmers in the Dehgam taluk, some 30 km off the State

capital, many of them have already reaped the first harvest. With the

claims of a superior yield having been proven, the farmers were

looking forward to a bumper crop when they got the rude awakening.

 

A list prepared gives the names and addresses of six farmers in and

around Gandhinagar, particularly in Dehgam taluk. All belong to the

capital district of Gandhinagar.

 

The one thread of commonality linking the six farmers -- a two-member

team of Dr C.D. Mayee, Director, Central Institute of Cotton

Research, Nagpur, and Dr T.V. Ramanaiah from the Department of

Biotechnology, Delhi, had visited all the six locations on October 8.

 

It was found that the six farmers had been using `Navbharat 151' a

cotton seed sold to them by local traders with the assurance of a

vastly better yield and considerably less expenses on fertilisers and

insecticides.

 

The seeds were allegedly supplied by an Ahmedabad-based private

limited company, though there is still no information pertaining to

the original source of the seed. The samples taken by the Central

team from the six farms found that the crop tested positive for the

genetically-engineered Cry 1 A gene.

 

Today, hordes of State Government officials reached their farms and

told them of the impending order to ``uproot and destroy'' the

existing cotton thus grown.

 

``We have been told that we will not be punished for using the

superior quality cotton seed. It is our understanding that farmers in

many other villages in and around Saurashtra have gone in for this

crop. If the crop is to be seized then we will have to be adequately

compensated,'' said one of the six villagers to have been put under

the microscope by the Union Government team on October 8.

 

On October 18, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee had ordered

the Gujarat State Co-ordination Committee on Biotechnology to destroy

much of the cotton grown on all these six locations. But the malaise

had gone much deeper as the Gujarat Government finally admitted that

some 10,000 acres of land spread over of districts have been under

cultivation using the genetically-modified (GM) cotton seed.

 

According to Mr P.K. Ghosh, Principal Secretary, Department of

Environment and Forests, Gujarat, there is no more argument about

whether the transgenic cotton crop has to be destroyed or not. ``We

have to destroy it and the compensation package to the farmers has to

be fixed,'' he said.

 

Meanwhile, the Green lobby has already got active in the State with a

number of NGOs demanding an inquiry into the episode. ``It is

Monsanto that has patent on the Bt gene cotton and so they have to be

held accountable. The Indian company alone cannot be held responsible

as the seeds, some 13,000 packets of 450 gm each, had to be sourced

from the MNC,'' said Ms Vandana Shiva of the Research Foundation for

Science, Technology and Ecology in an interface with the media in

Ahmedabad on Saturday.