Activists demand crackdown on companies selling illegal seeds

With revenue of unlawful HT (herbicide tolerant) Bt cotton seeds assuming alarming proportions, the Coalition for GM Cost-free India has questioned the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) to get stern action in opposition to seed providers selling the unlawful seeds. It also would like the GEAC to crack down on the supply chains aiding the unlawful seed organization.

In a letter to GEAC Chairperson Uma Devi, the Coalition alleged that providers permitted to promote unique kinds of authorised genetically modified cottonseeds were identified to be selling unauthorised and unlawful HT Bt cotton also.

Citing news reviews, it alleged that a best seed business, which was authorised by the GEAC to promote GM seeds, was selling unauthorised and unlawful HT Bt cotton seeds in Maharashtra.

“Reports indicate that a handful of samples (offered by the business) were detected with a herbicide tolerant gene in testing by the Maharashtra agriculture office,” the Coalition said.

The FISEC (Field Inspection and Scientific Evaluation Committee) set up by the Division of Biotechnology concluded that the unlawful hybrids collected from the area could be grouped into two significant sub-groups, indicating a really narrow genetic base. This demonstrates a organised breeding activity by a couple of providers.

There has been no concrete action taken by any agency, which includes GEAC, in opposition to the offenders, it said.

The Coalition also identified fault with the regulator for not uploading the report on its web-site. “It is unclear why this is not a public document, which can be utilised by warn civil society organisations to help regulators accomplish their duties diligently,” it pointed out.

The Coalition is an umbrella organisation comprising researchers and non-governmental organisations that oppose the GM organisms.

“We have been expressing for a long time now that it is simple enough to suppress and prevent the unlawful spread of HT cotton cultivation in India if the Governing administration regulators crack down on the seed supply methods, commencing from hybrid cotton seed manufacturing parts of the nation,” it said.

It pointed out that hybrid cotton seed manufacturing normally takes put in just a handful of districts.

“Starting with random checking in the seed manufacturing plots by rapid (strip) tests, adopted by drawing samples in ginning and seed processing models, it is simple to locate a lot that are generating and selling HT cotton seeds,” it argued.

“We desire that GEAC put into action the long-pending crackdown on the unlawful HT cotton seed supply methods in the nation. We also desire cancellation of authorisations and licences presented to seed providers if they are identified to be selling unlawful HT seeds.

“We would like to remind GEAC and all its implementation arms for regulation of gene technologies that this is the time when seed processing would commence right after harvest, and this is the time to get action,” it said.