Precipitating an Environmental and Health Catastrophe

However, others have warned against the move. In Bihar, a former agriculture minister Sudhakar Singh has called for a total ban in the state on testing and marketing of GM mustard. In Punjab, members of a group that calls itself ‘Sarson Satyagraha—Civil Disobedience against GM Mustard’ have written to the state government and warned against sowing these seeds in the state.

The Supreme Court of India had asked the government to respond, by November 10, to a petition challenging the permission given for environmental trials. A hearing is due soon.

Environmentalists have described the move as a ‘high risk’ option that can potentially destroy India’s rich heritage of oilseeds, quite a few of which are known to have medicinal benefits as well. The claims of higher yields from GM mustard, they argue, are exaggerated.

They also point out that safer, higher yielding seeds are already being cultivated in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. These seeds do not carry the risk of chemical herbicides, which are an essential component of GM/HT mustard seeds.

What farmers need, according to this lot, are better prices, procurement support and enabling conditions, not hazardous seeds. Besides the exaggerated claims of higher yield, GM seeds are known to carry serious health and environmental consequences.

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