GMO news related to India

07.02.2024 |

Joint Declaration in Defense of our Biodiversity, Seed and Food Freedom – Resisting GMO Imperialism

Defending our Seed and Food Sovereignty

Seeds are the first link in the food chain. They embody our heritage and enfold the future evolution of life. It is our inherent duty and responsibility to protect our seeds and pass them on to future generations. The cultivation of seeds and their free exchange among farmers have been the basis for maintaining biodiversity and our food security. Today, our seed sovereignty is threatened by intellectual property rights and new GMO technologies that have transformed seeds from a commons shared by farmers, to a commodity under the control and monopoly of agribusiness corporations. To have control over seeds is to have control over our lives, our food and our freedom.

03.02.2024 |

Gene editing of crops to end global hunger is propaganda

In an email interview with Jitendra Choubey, Prof Antoniou advises India to believe in basic science and not repeat the mistakes made by the European Union.

NGT is another form of GM technology - an artificial laboratory method for altering the genetic makeup of a crop or animal.

Days after 35 Nobel Laureates and over 1,000 scientists signed a letter to promote New GM Techniques (NGT), Prof Michael Antoniou, molecular geneticist and expert in genetic engineering technologies at the King’s College London, explains why it is wrong to promote NGT.

In an email interview with Jitendra Choubey, Prof Antoniou advises India to believe in basic science and not repeat the mistakes made by the European Union by ignoring the health and environmental implications of the NGT.

09.01.2023 |

Centre’s response on GM mustard proves regulatory violations, claim activists

Environment ministry releases response to Coalition of GM-free India’s allegations over environmental approval to GM crop

The Coalition for a GM-free India, a pan-Indian citizen’s platform, has claimed the Union environment ministry’s response to allegations over violating statutory regulations to approve genetically modified (GM) mustard were evidence that due procedures were not followed.

The coalition, a group of farmers, activists, researchers and scientists, has locked horns with the Union government, demanding adequate information on the grounds for the approval of the controversial Dhara Mustard Hybrid (DMH-11), which received the nod October 18, 2022.

There were 15 instances where the Union government compromised on appraising and approving the GM mustard, the coalition claimed January 6, 2023.

20.10.2022 |

Approval of GM mustard may threaten food security, increase pesticide tolerance

Activists write to environment ministry against allowing commercial use of genetically modified crops

The Indian variety of GM Mustard was conceived in 2022 by Deepak Pental, the then-vice chancellor of Delhi University.

Genetically modified crops may soon get the central government nod, a move that could pose a threat to crop diversity, food security and increase tolerance for use of pesticides. The move might also severely affect the agrarian sector, as the seed market will be in the hands of private companies instead of farmers, according to experts.

08.09.2021 |

Illegal GMO rice: Products recalled around the world

500 tonnes of Indian GMO rice were used in many countries to make, among other things, sweets for the Mars company

You may have seen recent reports about an unauthorised GMO turning up in some Mars products. The article below sheds more light on the contamination.

01.09.2021 |

Pink bollworm causes extensive damage to cotton in Hry, Punjab

Chandigarh: Cotton crop in several districts of Haryana and Punjab has been hit by pink bollworm, one of the most destructive pests, this season. Among the districts affected by the pink bollworm are Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Mahendragarh and Jind of Haryana and Bathinda and Mansa of Punjab. Ashish Mehta, a cotton farmer from Mandi Dabwali in Sirsa said almost 30 to 40 per cent of the farmers' crop has been damaged due to the pest in his area. Before Bt cotton was introduced in the region around 2005, farmers used to suffer heavy losses due to frequent attacks of American bollworm on their cotton crop. However, the Bt cotton, or Bollgard as it is called, was considered resistant to pests. But the infestation now has left the farmers in distress, as they feel they might have to suffer the pest attacks every year as it occurred prior to 2005. According to experts, the female moth of pink bollworm lays eggs in a cotton boll, and when the larvae emerge from the eggs, they inflict damage through feeding. They chew through the cotton lint to feed on the seeds. Since cotton is used for both fiber and seed oil, the damage is twofold, tell the experts. "Since the eggs and larvae are inside the flower, the farmers are unable to even know about the pest attack till the cotton fruits open up. By then it is already too late," said Mehta.

27.08.2021 |

Centre’s GM soya cake import order to be challenged in court by a civil society group

NEW DELHI: The Coalition for a GM-Free India, a civil society platform that had been opposed to transgenic technologies being deployed in the country, has termed the Centre's recent decision to import GM soymeal as patently illegal, saying the move will now be legally challenged as the import would expose citizens to the hazards of unsafe gene technologies.

01.06.2021 |

The Return of Pink Bollworm in India’s Bt Cotton Fields: Livelihood Vulnerabilities of Farming Households in Karimnagar District

Abstract

Since its introduction in India, Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton technology has been the object of controversial scholarly and non-academic debate. The recent return of pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella) pests in several Indian states has provided cause for concern about widespread resistances in Lepidopteran pests towards the endotoxins produced in Indian Bt cotton plants as well as about severe setbacks in regard to cotton farmers’ livelihood security. This study is the first to provide empirical evidence on the socio-economic consequences of recent bollworm attacks in India based on an exploratory study conducted in Karimnagar district, Telangana, India. It analyses the changed vulnerabilities that smallholders currently face and identifies the reasons why some peasant farmers can only deal with the consequences of this technological failure to a limited extent.

01.04.2021 |

Techno Fixes will not Save our Planet

In his latest book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates lays out a plan to stop global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero. A fact that seems a little ironic coming from one of the world’s largest emitters[1], whose “guilty pleasure” is flying on private jets and who just joined a bid to acquire the world’s largest private jet services company[2]. Though he attempts to waves this fact away by claiming to make sure that his miles are offset, and his jet uses only “sustainable fuel”. But this sort of contradiction, of placating a severe root problem with a superficial or false solution, is nothing strange for Gates, as a closer look into his million-dollar investments, billionaire and private company partnerships, and his political agenda show little alignment with the goal of truly curving climate change, helping alleviate world hunger, or lifting the poor out of poverty.

24.03.2021 |

India: Nations comply with FSSAI regulations on GM food imports

Several countries have started issuing genetically modified (GM)-free certificates for imported food crop consignments, after initial resistance to India’s regulation seeking such certificates that became effective on 1 March.

The US, Brazil, Russia, and Japan, among other countries, had raised objections to the regulation, contending that it would create a trade barrier and add to the cost borne by exporters.

On 21 August 2020, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued an order requiring a “non-GM origin and GM-free certificate", issued by the competent national authority of the exporting country, to accompany all imports of 24 listed food products to India, to become effective beginning 1 January. The date was later revised to 1 March.

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