It's hard to imagine that the humble brinjal (also known as eggplant or aubergine) could kick up such a storm. But it has.
This is a story of one of the world’s largest agricultural biotechnology companies - the United States-based Monsanto - and its run in with farmers in south India, following murky allegations of its attempts to "steal" nine indigenous brinjal varieties and genetically modify them.
Monsanto claims that its main priorities are farmers and integrity. Its website says: "Integrity is the foundation for all that we do. Integrity includes honesty, decency, consistency and courage." And this, Monsanto pledges, includes engaging in dialogue with "diverse points of view".
That may well be. But in India, this corporate foresight has gone awry, for the seed giant may have forgotten to enter into dialogue with farmers in the Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and, indeed, the federal government of India. The allegation being levelled against Monsanto is that between 2005 and 2006, the company, through its Indian subsidiary Mahyco and several agricultural universities in India, inserted a bacterial gene into the indigenous brinjal genome to create a genetically modified version named BT brinjal. These seeds were then sown in limited field trials in India. But when it embarked on its programme to genetically modify the brinjal, it did so without first asking India's National Biodiversity Authority for consent. Full story...
Don't miss:
This is a story of one of the world’s largest agricultural biotechnology companies - the United States-based Monsanto - and its run in with farmers in south India, following murky allegations of its attempts to "steal" nine indigenous brinjal varieties and genetically modify them.
Monsanto claims that its main priorities are farmers and integrity. Its website says: "Integrity is the foundation for all that we do. Integrity includes honesty, decency, consistency and courage." And this, Monsanto pledges, includes engaging in dialogue with "diverse points of view".
That may well be. But in India, this corporate foresight has gone awry, for the seed giant may have forgotten to enter into dialogue with farmers in the Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and, indeed, the federal government of India. The allegation being levelled against Monsanto is that between 2005 and 2006, the company, through its Indian subsidiary Mahyco and several agricultural universities in India, inserted a bacterial gene into the indigenous brinjal genome to create a genetically modified version named BT brinjal. These seeds were then sown in limited field trials in India. But when it embarked on its programme to genetically modify the brinjal, it did so without first asking India's National Biodiversity Authority for consent. Full story...
Don't miss:
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- Monsanto sued in India for illegal GM brinjal...
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- Monsanto farmer suicides in India. Horrendous..
- India accuses Monsanto of conducting GM trials on the sly...
- GM genocide, India's appalling farmer suicides...
- Farmers in India selling their wives...
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