http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2002110703390400.htm
THE HINDU, Thursday November 7 2002

Entry of GM mustard opposed

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD Nov. 6. The Andhra Pradesh Coalition in Defence of Diversity,
a network of 142 civil society groups in the State, on Wednesday
demanded that the permission to Genetically Modified Mustard, coming up
for consideration before the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee of
the Union Environment Ministry tomorrow, be put off.

Addressing a press conference, P. V. Satheesh, convenor of the APCDD,
criticised the Central Government for attempting to introduce the GM
mustard, "in a hush-hush manner'' without any public consultations and
demanded that the biosafety and health impact issues be put to public
debate before its approval.

He said if the permission is accorded to Pro Agro, a subsidiary of the
Belgian agro chemical giant, Aventis, to sell genetically engineered
mustard seed in the  country, one of the `navadhaynas' known for their
purity would be irretrievably contaminated by genetic pollution. "And
when you have your favourite sarson da saag or sambar, you can never be
sure whether it is nature's bounty or Frankenstein poisonous food,'' he added.

Mr. Satish said after Bt Cotton, it would be the second blow this year
to ecological agriculture and farmers in India. It clearly points to the
growing clout of trans-national agrochemical corporations and their
lobbyists on the Government. The lack of public debate was indicative of
the dismantling of Governmental accountability to the citizens. The GM
mustard approval has unabashedly abandoned even the imperfect process
adopted in pushing the Bt Cotton.

When the Ministry of Environment was legally bound to conduct public
hearings even when a small dam is built as part of Environment Impact
Assessment, something which is far more environmentally impacting as a
GM crop, is being permitted without consulting the citizens. The irony
was that the target of the GM mustard was common people but they have
been left out from the entire decision-making process.

He said when Bt Cotton was promoted, the argument put forward was that
it was not a food crop hence it should not cause concern about growing
on Indian soils. It was argued that it would help in reducing the use of
pesticide and the risk of gene transfer was extremely low. Though
debatable, the GEAC got away with the weak defence. But when one
considers mustard, none of these arguments hold good.