COALITION FOR GM Free Madhya Pradesh in an open letter to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan urged to concede to the demand of farmers’ organisations, people’s movements, consumers and other civil society organisations to immediately intervene with regard to the GM Corn trial of Monsanto being conducted in open air conditions in Jabalpur and stop it. Further, it requested him to announce a policy of making Madhya Pradesh free of GM crops/foods in keeping with your overall agricultural policy.

A team of researchers at the University of Agricultural Science (UAS) here has succeed in genetically engineering a widely grown vegetable crop in the country to manage fruit and shoot borer pest with the development of six Bt brinjal varieties popular across three south-western states. The pest-resistant transgenic varieties of brinjal were developed under a centrally funded project spread over five years, using a process similar to the one used in the development of Bt cotton.

Over 24,000 people have asked big manufacturers of processed foods in India, including Nestle, Britannia and Hindustan Unilever, not to use genetically modified (GM) foods after Greenpeace put up a list of companies that could be using GM products. The NGO put up a list on the internet 11 days ago mentioning firms that did or did not say they used such foods.

There seems to be a competition among ministries in India about setting up of an autonomous regulator for genetically modified (GM) products replacing the existing Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) which is presently functioning under the Union ministry for environment and forests. The stated design of the proposals of these ministries is to ensure safety of GM products. But unfortunately this serious issue is turning out to be like -- much ado about nothing.

The agriculture ministry has okayed Monsanto India’s plan to do business in genetically modified material. The move would be a step forward for the company which wants to integrate its agro-chemical business in India with its US parent’s seed business. The agriculture ministry has said that Monsanto India can be allowed to deal in genetically modified seeds or planting material in compliance with the existing environment protection laws.

Eleven major food companies in India have been slotted in a ’red list’, compiled by Greenpeace India, in the country’s first safe food guide on Genetically Modified ingredients. The companies are: Nestlé, Hindustan Unilever, Kellogg, Cadbury, Agro Tech Foods Ltd., FieldFresh Foods Pvt Ltd. (a unit of Bharti Enterprises), Bambino Agro Industries Ltd., Britannia Industries Ltd., Godrej Hershey Foods, Parle, and Safal. Most of these products are marketed heavily on television, sending messages that they help create healthy individuals. Greenpeace India is saying this may not be so.

Dabur India Ltd has been ranked in the ’Green List’ of companies and its food products have been listed as ’Safe to use’ by Greenpeace India. [...] ”Dabur’s range of food products retains its original nutritional value because of the superior quality of raw material sourcing, processing and the stringent safety measures the company follows. All our products go through stringent quality checks to ensure that our consumers always get best-in-class products,” said a Dabur India Ltd spokesperson.

Bayer CropScience Ltd has taken up a Rs 43-crore capital expenditure plan this year and plans to launch 2-3 new products including BT rice, a top company official said. [...] The company will continue to concentrate on development of stress resistant products like monsoon resistent, insect resistant, etc., to reduce dependence of the company’s products range to unforeseen factors.

After the success of genetically modified cotton in India, Monsanto is interested in extending its product line to include corn (maize), rice, wheat and vegetables such as tomato, okra and pepper. [...] ”I expect Indian farmers to move from rice to corn as rice uses a lot of water. Our technology will help reduce water usage and increase yield on less land,” Dr Robb Fraley, Monsanto Chief Technology Officer

When India is moving toward 100 per cent Bt cotton regime, some winds of change has been seen in Gujarat, the leading cotton producer in the country. Due to the deficient monsoon, farmers have taken to cotton over rain-fed crops like groundnut, to the extent that the area under cotton cultivation has increased by nearly two lakh hectares. Significantly, it’s conventional (non-Bt) cotton varieties and not the Bt cotton variety that has caught the attention of the farmers this season.