Anti-GM lobby wants space in manifestos

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 26

Demanding that they be heard, the anti-GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) lobby wants political parties to incorporate their demands in their manifestos. “The demands have already been shared with the BJP and the Congress manifesto committee and is being shared with other parties as well,” said Kavitha Kuruganti, co-convener of the Coalition for a GM Free India.

Accusing PM Narendra Modi of not keeping his promise made in the 2014 poll manifesto, she said: “On GM mustard, it was civil society pressure that made the BJP stop the crop despite regulatory clearance. But when it comes to GM food imports, this government did not keep its promise and allowed illegal imports”.

The manifesto on GMOs reads: “GMO contamination of our seeds, our foundation seed stock, will change the structure of our food at the molecular level. Any harm or toxicity that there is will remain, without the possibility of remediation or reversibility”. It also demands a bio-safety protection Act and a debate on the means to establish and incentivise agro-ecological systems of farming to avoid the collapse of ecosystems.