Don't buckle under US pressure to allow GM crops in trade deal: Activists to Centre

Bengaluru: Farmers and activists on Monday wrote to the Centre asking it not to allow genetically modified (GM) crops/seeds/products in the United States-India trade deal, for which negotiations are ongoing.

The Coalition for GM-Free India, a collective of farmers, activists and experts, was referring to the US "pressuring" the Indian side to allow dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) and GM alfalfa for livestock feed in India. It said the US has also been demanding the dilution of the 'GM-free' certification as it finds the current norms "an irritant".

"We would like to reiterate that the ongoing trade deal negotiations between India and the US stands to not only potentially compromise India's livestock and human health, but also compromise India's export markets, if our government does not stand firm against GM imports, including against the proposed modality of the self certification of GM-Free status," said Rajesh Krishnan, a farmer and the coalition's co-convenor, said in his memorandum to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

He said the Supreme Court's Technical Expert Committee’s analysis of biosafety dossiers show that no safety-related conclusion can be drawn from the data presented on animals fed with GM feed, and further independent, longer-term studies are needed for such a conclusion to be arrived at.

The coalition noted that the self certification of GM-free status was "extremely unreliable from a country like the US" where segregation was not maintained in the supply chains between GM and non-GM products, allowing contamination. "India should rely on the accredited certification bodies for the non-GM status and should also adopt stringent testing mechanisms to check non-GM consignments."

Besides the genetic aspects, the import of the alfalfa hay or DDGS from the US will also hurt Indian producers, it said. "For instance, every year, the US government subsidises US farmers tens of billions of dollars for animal feed. Opening India for GM feed imports will be disastrous for our farmers. This will lower market prices for our farmers which will further discourage domestic production of animal feed, leading to a vicious cycle," it said.

Stating that India should firmly reject any terms and conditions that ask the Union Government to bypass domestic regulations, and that seek to compromise citizens’ interests, the Coalition said it expects the government to protect the interests of Indian farmers, consumers and industry/exporters when the final deal is put into place.