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The scientists in their letter said that there are "many serious scientific and policy fallacies" in the argument made by the Ministry of Agriculture. This affidavit was filed in response to a Supreme Court appointed technical committee report on GM crops which had advised a ten year ban on GM crops because of its unpredictable impacts on the environment. It had also said that we have not conducted adequate research to confirm the safety of GM food crops.

On Saturday, the scientists and the GM free coalition of organisations also celebrated the third anniversary of a moratorium on transgenic Bt Brinjal which was imposed when Jairam Ramesh was environment minister and urged Natarajan to make sure that the moratorium is not lifted.

In response to Agriculture ministry's argument, the letter said: "An overwhelming majority of countries worldwide do not grow GM crops. They are grown on a mere 160 million hectares that comprise 3.2% of the global agriculture land. Just four crops cover 99% of the area under GM crops: soybean (47%), maize (32%), cotton (15%) and canola (5%)." It also summarised the experiences of various countries including the US who have commercialised GM food crops.

Source: Times of India

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This report strives to provide an insight upon the numerous disadvantages of GM food and crops pertaining to humans and the environment. The fundamental core of this report concerns the human health risks posed by the consumption of GM food by the community. Safety tests for GM foods are scant and sparse, and toxins as well as allergenic components in these GM foods are unpredictable. Alternatively, GM crops prove to be disparaging to the environment. As a result of GM crops being grown, GM "superweeds" exist and the earth's biodiversity is disrupted. Conversely, GM crops incur substantially high costs. Cost of seeds for GM crops is excessively priced and agri-biotechnological companies stand a chance to abuse this cost in order to reap more profits....

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Article by James Njoroge

Journalist Kerry Howley of the Reason magazine has written a very riveting and informative article on how fear is being used to deny Africa cutting-edge technologies. Howley writes how activists descend on Africa every time new technologies emerge. They, using apocalyptic theories, misadvise and mislead Africans into not embracing these technologies.

Africans are usually warned of cataclysmic consequences if they adopt new technologies. Usually, they’re told the West wants to use them as guinea pigs, or to enslave them. Most play along, thanks to high illiteracy levels and unavailability and/or access to alternative sources of information. Always the consequences are grave: the rest of the world prospers, while Africa wallows in poverty. Essentially, Africa merely gawks as other countries industrialize.

Howley beautifully illustrates this point using the swirling debate about genetically modified (GM) foods. She writes how African countries have shunned GM foods on the advice of consumer advocacy groups such as the Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. These groups happen to have a big presence in Africa

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