Environmentalists, former law makers and administrative officials, have jointly written to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and agricultural minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, to halt open air trials of genetically modified (GM) crops in the state and cancel the clearances that were provided to 28 applications for GM food crops such as rice, maize, brinjal and wheat.
Maharashtra was the first state to approve the GM field trials following clearance at the Centre, despite the moratorium on trials by the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) formed by the Supreme Court to assess long term safety of the crops. "Only five countries - USA, Brazil, Argentina, India and Canada - account for 90% of area under GM. A majority of 'modern' countries – including Europe, Japan, Russia, Korea - reject or severely regulate GM crops. Even China plants less GM area than India," read the letter.
"It is shocking that Maharashtra is one of the only three states to have granted clearance for 28 GM crop field trials. States such as Rajasthan, MP, Bihar, Orissa, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Tamil
Nadu and Kerala, have outright refused permission," said Shailesh Gandhi, former central information commissioner, who released the letter. The letter brings forth various research papers, independent of corporate funding which indicate linkage between GM and cancer, kidney and liver dysfunctions, asthma, allergies, obesity and many other health relatd illnesses.
It also disputes the artificial food crisis that might have led to this hasty decision by pointing out that India does not have a lack of food grains, as most of it is either exported or subjected to mis-management causing rot and waste.
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) or GM crops are DNA alterations that protect the crop from pests or increase yield. Experts have indicated that these lead to mutations in pests that slowly make them immune to these inbuilt pesticides, forcing farmers to buy upgraded versions of the crop that they can't afford. "In 2012, two-thirds of suicides were in cotton growing states. Maharashtra has 90% cotton area under Bt cotton, and the highest suicides with a 13% increase in 2012", said the letter.
The signatories of the letter include environmental and agricultural NGOs, such as BNHS and AGNI along with many former SC judges and even Julio Ribeiro, the former commissioner of Mumbai.
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