{"id":1241,"date":"2017-08-01T19:32:30","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T18:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/the-fight-against-gm-mustard-in-india-is-crucial-for-the-global-war-on-gmos\/"},"modified":"2023-05-08T15:59:08","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T13:59:08","slug":"the-fight-against-gm-mustard-in-india-is-crucial-for-the-global-war-on-gmos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/de\/the-fight-against-gm-mustard-in-india-is-crucial-for-the-global-war-on-gmos\/","title":{"rendered":"The fight against GM mustard in India is crucial for the global war on GMOs"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ruchi Shroff – LifeGate, 1 August 2017 | Source<\/a><\/p>\n

If approved, GM mustard would become the first GMO to enter India’s food chain: this is why the fight doesn\u2019t involve India alone but the whole world.<\/em><\/p>\n

Amidst the determined push by biotech lobbies<\/a> to impose genetically modified (GM<\/a>) mustard in India<\/strong>, civil society movements and farmers\u2019 organizations are once again doing battle to oppose this new product of genetic engineering<\/a>. If approved, gm mustard would become India\u2019s first GM\u00a0food crop<\/strong>, which poses grave health and environmental risks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If approved, genetically modified mustard would become the first gmo in India\u2019s food chain<\/small><\/p>\n

The release of GM\u00a0mustard would threaten\u00a0farmers\u2019 livelihoods and pose a high risk of contamination of mustard<\/a> germplasm in a centre of cultural diversity such as India. GM mustard has potential adverse impacts on honeybees<\/a>. Farmers worry that gm mustard will impact the pollen and nectar collection by honeybees resulting in lower mustard honey production and exports. Farmers and civil society are worried that the approval for this technology will open the gates for the entry of tens of other GM food crops. Bayer<\/a>\u2018s Liberty Link crops are only two of the wo main types of gm crops resistant to the herbicide glufosinate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The case of gm mustard in India<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The battle against the approval of GM\u00a0mustard (DMH11)in India is consequently growing across the whole country. In May 2017, hundreds of farmers and activists demonstrated outside the gates of the Environment Ministry in Delhi, while India\u2019s largest farmer\u2019s unions also wrote to Minister for the Environment<\/a>\u00a0Harsh Vardhan asking him to reject the commercialisation of gm mustard. Vardhan is also the Minister of Science and Technology and was one of the funders of gm mustard development. In a clear conflict of interests, he is now also the person who will take the final\u00a0 decision to approve or not. Resistance to the corporate takeover is growing also at a local level. While corporations and their lobbies, such as ABLE India<\/a>,\u00a0have upped the ante on the approval of gm mustard, thanks to the resistance across the country, five key Indian states including mustard-growing states have now banned the cultivation of gm mustard. The latest State to take a stand is Rajasthan<\/strong>, which has stated that it will not allow gm\u00a0mustard<\/a> even in case of approval at the federal government. With Rajasthan being the state where 46 per cent of Indian mustard is grown, this position could become crucial in the process.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Indian state of\u00a0Rajasthan said that it will not allow the cultivation of GM\u00a0mustard,\u00a0even if the government approves it (Photo: Reuters)
\n<\/small><\/p>\n

This is not the first time that Indian mustard is under threat. In 1998 India\u2019s indigenous edible oils<\/a> made from mustard, coconut, sesame, linseed and groundnut processed in artisanal cold-press mills were banned, using food safety as an excuse. The restrictions on import of soya oil were simultaneously removed. One million oil mills in villages were closed. And millions of tons of artificially cheap gm\u00a0soya oil continue to be dumped on India. Last year, over 124 farmers groups, scientists, lawyers and activists organized an All India People\u2019s Assembly against gm mustard<\/a> and launched a nationwide ground campaign, working with farmers to practice ecological methods of agriculture with local varieties as well as organising festivals celebrating \u00a0indigenous mustard and inviting citizens to join the civil disobedience. While the resistance against the imposition of gm mustard takes root, it is important to save and propagate the indigenous diversity of mustard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The future of the food and farming system of the world<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The battle against the commercialization and approval of GM\u00a0mustard by civil society movements in India is not about the narrow issue of a technology tool in a specific area of the world, it is about a much broader issue of which food and farming system we want globally.<\/p>\n

The release of specific GM\u00a0crops in those parts of the world which are recognized as a centre of origin of those same crops, raises important questions on the issue of germplasm contamination and represents a threat to the future of biodiversity at a global level. In the Report \u201cMaize Under Threat, GE Maize Contamination in Mexico<\/a>\u201d, published by Greenpeace in 2003, the authors state that \u201cGE crop contamination in centres of diversity poses a major global concern and urgent measures must be taken to ensure the integrity of such centres. We can\u2019t afford to let the very sources of our food supply become irreversibly contaminated\u201d.<\/p>\n

The global battle against GMOs\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

As the immense diversity of mustard crops is now under threat in India, so too are under way harsh political debates and people\u2019s mobilizations in other parts of the world to counter similar issues. For more than a decade<\/a> Monsanto and other agrichemical industries have been fighting to impose GM corn in Mexico. In 2012, in response to the umpteenth request by Monsanto<\/a> for authorisation to grow and commercialize GM corn, a coalition of Mexican scientists, the Uni\u00f3n de Cient\u00edficos Comprometidos con la Sociedad (UCCS) \u2013 Union of Socially Concerned Scientists, published a declaration<\/a> and launched a wide international opposition campaign.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For more than a decade Monsanto and other agrichemical industries have been fighting to impose GM corn in Mexico.<\/small><\/p>\n

The declaration states that \u201cMexico is not only the cradle of corn<\/a>, the second most important commodity crop in the world, but it also stewards one of the few Centers of Origin and Diversification, from which the world derives the genetic diversity needed to maintain its production in the mist of new plagues and climatic challenges\u201d. With reference to and in support of the declaration, Etc group<\/a> defined the possible authorization of GM corn by the Mexican government<\/a> as a \u201ccrime of historic significance\u201d. Moreover, the News Release states that \u201cgenetic contamination of Mexican peasant varieties will be inevitable. We are talking about damaging more than 7,000 years of indigenous and peasant work that created maize \u2013 one of the world\u2019s three most widely eaten crops\u201d.<\/p>\n

The victory against GM eggplant\u00a0in India<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Since its approval in Bangladesh in 2013, the cultivation of Bt eggplant (Bt brinjal) has been strongly criticized. Farida Akhtar<\/a>, founder of Ubinig<\/a>, a Bangladeshi NGO that maintains community seed banks, declared that Bangladesh is a centre of origin of brinjal and home to over 100 varieties. \u201cThese varieties\u201d, she said \u201cnow face genetic contamination from the GM varieties through natural cross-pollination\u201d.<\/p>\n

The same Bt Brinjal was stopped in India in 2010. At the time civil society movements and numerous independent scientists had expressed great concern<\/a> on how contamination between the GM eggplant and other eggplant traditional varieties would have been rapid and \u00a0irreversible. The Supreme Court declared a moratorium of 10 years on any field trial, while the technical advisory committee (TEC) also recommended a ban on the \u201crelease of GM crops for which India is a centre of origin or diversity, as rice, brinjal, and mustard\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Vandana Shiva women play a crucial role in agricolture because boast unique skills and knowledge\u00a0for the conservation of biodiversity and an economy based on it\u00a0\u00a9 Aamir Qureshi\/Getty Images<\/small><\/p>\n

The only GM crop cultivated in India is Bt cotton. The experience of Bt cotton cultivation over the past 15 years has exposed the hype about GM crops<\/a> and the devastation on farmers livelihoods and biodiversity.<\/p>\n

Within a decade, Bt cotton was adopted by nearly 7 million farmers, and they cover 97 per cent of the area planted<\/a> with the crop today. But the pests for which BT cotton was created have become resistant and pesticide use on farmers fields have gone up.<\/p>\n

Not against technology, but for a democratic debate<\/strong><\/h4>\n

History may repeat itself. Since its introduction for approval, the fact that GM mustard is a glufosinate herbicide resistant crop has been hidden from the public. Glufosinate<\/a>\u00a0is a neuro toxic pesticide that causes damage to nerves and the brain. Mustard is used as a medicine and in every kitchen of India. Herbicide tolerance would mean increased plant residues. The farmers\u2019 battle is therefore not against technology. The country needs a democratic debate<\/strong> on the systems of food and agriculture that protect biodiversity, people\u2019s health, farmers livelihoods. Decisions about what we eat and how our food is grown cannot be left to opaque committees, connected to the biotech industry and disconnected from the democratic processes that should govern our lives and our food. The movements are demanding a high level citizen enquiry which makes transparent the links between institutions and the agrichemical corporations of the Poison Cartel<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ruchi Shroff – LifeGate, 1 August 2017 | Source If approved, GM mustard would become the first GMO to enter India’s food chain: this is why the fight doesn\u2019t involve India alone but the whole world. Amidst the determined push by biotech lobbies to impose genetically modified (GM) mustard in India, civil society movements […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[345,50,161],"tags":[102,88],"class_list":["post-1241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","category-news","category-our-articles","tag-gmos","tag-india","thematic_area-corporate-free-future","thematic_area-seed-freedom"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/900SarsonLifegate-1.jpg","wpml_translations":[{"language_code":"it","post_id":1236,"original":false},{"language_code":"en","post_id":1241,"original":true}],"custom_fields":{"_thumbnail_id":["1866"],"_fgj2wp_old_id":["438"],"_edit_lock":["1630939999:2"],"_edit_last":["2"],"wpl_sidebar_option":["on"],"wpl_featured_image_post":["on"],"wpl_share_buttons":["on"],"_wpml_media_duplicate":["1"],"_wpml_media_featured":["1"],"_wp_attachment_metadata":[""],"_wpml_media_has_media":["1"],"_alp_processed":["1552411816"]},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9KkNM-k1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1241"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19058,"href":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241\/revisions\/19058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}