UPA Govt. should desist
from introducing Bt. Brinjal, says SDPI resolution
Bhopal, February 02 (Pervez Bari): The Social Democratic of India, (SDPI), has
urged the Congress-led UPA Government to desist from any decision permitting
the environmental release and sale of Bt. Brinjal in India as it is fraught
with the most serious, far-reaching and irreversible consequences affecting
our land and her inhabitants – human and non-human – for generations to come.
The SDPI passed a resolution to this effect at its National Working Committee
meeting held at Bangalore on January 27 last. The resolution was released to
media through a Press release by SDPI general secretary A. Sayeed.
The resolution said that SDPI is pained to learn the rumblings going on in the
country over the genetically modified, (GM), Bt. Brinjal being given a
go-ahead green signal for commercial cultivation by the Congress-led UPA
Government. It is most reprehensible act and should be condemned in most
strongest terms from all quarters.
The UPA Government must exercise utmost caution as there are over 50 more GM
crops reportedly in the Indian pipeline. Once released, these cannot ever be
recalled, nor can the chain reactions they unleash be stopped, the resolution
warned.
The resolution stated that the UPA Government is well aware that a broad
cross-section of Indian citizens – including outstanding scientists of
undisputable integrity, as also large numbers of farmers and consumers – have
opposed the sanctioning of Bt. Brinjal, expressing grave concern for the
potential hazards posed to human, animal and environmental health, and to the
very food security and sovereignty of India. These are certainly not trivial
matters permitting any foolhardy haste in pushing Bt. Brinjal down the throat
of this nation.
The central environment ministry is holding public consultations in various
Indian cities to decide if they will allow commercial release of Bt. Brinjal.
Last October, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, (GEAC), of the
government had cleared it. But a member of the committee, Pushpa Bhargava, has
alleged that all necessary tests were not carried out before the decision was
taken, the resolution pointed out.
As things stand, Union Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh is
holding his public consultation process and has so far covered Kolkata,
Bhubaneswar, Nagpur and Ahmedabad. He will hold consultations in Bangalore,
Chandigarh and Hyderabad too.
However, even as Jairam Ramesh is on the job, two of his ministerial
colleagues Sharad Pawar and Prithviraj Chavan have already supported Bt
Brinjal. Pawar has washed the Centre’s hands off the issue maintaining it has
no say on the issue since the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee has given
its go-ahead to its commercial production. And Chavan has termed it as safe.
The GEAC had given its go-ahead to the GM vegetable in October last year
leading to vehement protests from across the country.
The SDPI is also concerned about the implications for food security for the
country. It is not desirable to hand over the control of seeds to
transnational monopolies. To ensure that access to seed is ensured, the
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime must retain farmer’s rights and must
not reduce flexibilities in Indian law, the resolution said.
As per the Cartagena protocol, to which India is a signatory, transgenic
versions of crops for which we are the country of origin should not be
permitted. Mexico, China and Peru follow this protocol. Thus, transgenic
varieties of Bt Brinjal cannot be permitted in India.
The people of India have the right to safe food and the Bt Brinjal violates
that. The multinationals have been wooing the farmers saying that GM seeds
would give good produce and will not be infested by insects." Can anyone
imagine how poisonous those seeds must be that not even insects can infest
them.
The SDPI is of the opinion that prudence demands that all the above burning
concerns should first be rigorously addressed and satisfactorily resolved,
before a highly controversial crop like Bt. Brinjal is even considered an
option. The people of India refuse to be anyone’s ‘lab-rats’ or sacrificial
goats.
It is clear beyond doubt that the people of the states of Orissa, Bihar and
West Bengal – that produce 60 per cent of all the brinjal grown in India –
overwhelmingly oppose the release of Bt. Brinjal. The Chief Ministers of these
3 States have reportedly written to the Union Minister of Environment and
Forests Jairam Ramesh recording their opposition, and have pointed out that
since agriculture is a state subject, the Centre should not impose the
unwanted Bt. Brinjal on them, even ‘unofficially’ via a neighbouring state, as
would inevitably happen if Bt. Brinjal is at all permitted anywhere in India.
At least 5 more States, including Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka,
Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, have also opposed the release of Bt. Brinjal – to
protect their citizens and the natural wealth of their land. Indeed, several
of these States are in favour of a total ban or moratorium on GM crops.
The resolution said that the SDPI fails to comprehend as to what is this
unseemly rush for Indians to be the world’s first guinea-pigs for Bt. Brinjal,
bearing a bacterial gene of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt.) that secretes its own
pesticide? A “baingan” (aka brinjal/eggplant/aubergine) engineered to be
pregnant with poison!
GM crops are totally prohibited in most nations. In much of Europe, including
UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the ban continues in defiance of WTO
directives. Over 85 per cent of global GM cultivation is confined to just 4
countries: US, Canada, Argentine and Brazil; and to a mere 4 crops – corn,
soya bean, cotton and canola.
There is growing evidence of Bt toxins entering, lingering, and accumulating
in the food chain, thereby posing a grave hazard to humans, animals, aquatic
life and soil organisms. Furthermore, the medicinal use of various native
brinjal varieties (uncooked) in Ayurveda is seriously threatened through
contamination by Bt. Brinjal, rendering toxic the intended medicines.
The SDPI hopes that seeing the futility of the GM seeds, wisdom prevails on
the UPA Government and it steadfastly refuses to grant sanction for the
release of Bt. Brinjal or any other GM crop in India. Thus, the Government
should desist from the move, the resolution concluded. (pervezbari@eth.net)
