Sound evidence to prove GM crops hazardous for humans: Activists
RELATED
NEW DELHI: A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
pitched for exploring option of transgenic crops for increasing
agricultural production, a network of anti-GM groups on Tuesday
challenged him to prove that concerns about Bt crops were "prejudiced".
Maintaining that GM crops were dangerous, the group said there was "sound scientific evidence" to prove that transgenic crops were hazardous for human health and environment.
Singh, while addressing the 101st Indian Science Congress in Jammu on Monday, said his government should not succumb to "unscientific prejudices" against transgenic crops - a remark which created panic among people who have been resisting use of transgenic crops in the country.
Reacting to Singh's statement, the Coalition for a GM Free India - a network of all anti-GM groups across the country - said the "prime minister is wrong and willfully misleading the nation on the issue of genetically modified crops".
The coalition's convener Rajesh Krishnan said, "The PM's statement comes at a time when there is a growing body of scientific evidence on the adverse impacts of GM crops on human health, environment and farm livelihoods."
He, on behalf of the coalition, demanded that the PM and his government stop "peddling risky GM crops and stand by the side of sound science and people of India".
Although agriculture scientists have consistently denied the claims of anti-GM groups, the matter got stuck in the Supreme Court which will decide on the issue. Hearing on this matter is scheduled to begin in April.
A large number of agriculture scientists argued that the bio-safety aspect of transgenic seeds/crops could not be known unless the government allowed them to go for scientific field trials. The PM's statement on Monday was in recognition of those arguments.
Maintaining that GM crops were dangerous, the group said there was "sound scientific evidence" to prove that transgenic crops were hazardous for human health and environment.
Singh, while addressing the 101st Indian Science Congress in Jammu on Monday, said his government should not succumb to "unscientific prejudices" against transgenic crops - a remark which created panic among people who have been resisting use of transgenic crops in the country.
Reacting to Singh's statement, the Coalition for a GM Free India - a network of all anti-GM groups across the country - said the "prime minister is wrong and willfully misleading the nation on the issue of genetically modified crops".
The coalition's convener Rajesh Krishnan said, "The PM's statement comes at a time when there is a growing body of scientific evidence on the adverse impacts of GM crops on human health, environment and farm livelihoods."
He, on behalf of the coalition, demanded that the PM and his government stop "peddling risky GM crops and stand by the side of sound science and people of India".
Although agriculture scientists have consistently denied the claims of anti-GM groups, the matter got stuck in the Supreme Court which will decide on the issue. Hearing on this matter is scheduled to begin in April.
A large number of agriculture scientists argued that the bio-safety aspect of transgenic seeds/crops could not be known unless the government allowed them to go for scientific field trials. The PM's statement on Monday was in recognition of those arguments.
No comments:
Post a Comment