Coalition for a GM-Free India demands blacklisting of Monsanto

The Coalition for a GM-Free India has demanded that Monsanto be blacklisted in view of the revelations of “illegal” planting of Herbicide Tolerant (HT) maize in its GM maize trial in Karnataka. The revelations came as a response to an RTI application by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).

Speaking at a press conference here on Monday, Kavitha Kuruganti, a member of the Coalition, said that while the agri-business corporation has been caught violating norms repeatedly.

The RTI response revealed that a team led by Pradyumn Kumar of the Directorate of Maize Research (DMR) had noted the violation in its visit report. “Monsanto's GM maize trials have been going on for several seasons now in various locations across the country. It took a rare scientist in one monitoring team to point out the fact that planting of the herbicide-tolerant GM maize took place without permission from competent authorities. What is more damning is that there is no evidence of any discussion or action by the regulators on this finding,” said Ms. Kuruganti.

She also pointed out that this episode was a repetition of Herbicide Tolerant cotton being planted by Monsanto's affiliate, Mahyco, without permission, as well as illegal planting of HT maize in the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad.

Demands

In a letter sent to Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan, Sridhar Radhakrishnan, convener of the Coalition, has demanded inquiry into all GM maize field trials by Monsanto across the country; immediate withdrawal of permission for field trials by Monsanto and its affiliates till all violation issues are investigated and re-examining the monitoring, evaluation mechanism for field trials.

The Coalition also demanded development of “a robust system for acting upon field trial violations, and put in place norms for timely and serious consideration of such violations and for punitive actions.”