The Hindu Business Line : GM foods

This refers to “NGOs in agriculture” (Business Line, May 6). It was saddening to read the author’s shockingly incorrect comments on crucial issues such as GM foods and farmers suicides.

For his and your information, the Coca-Cola struggle was not initiated by any NGO; it was a people’s struggle in Kerala, taken up by the affected dalit and tribal communities.

They did not have any funding, they only wished to survive, and were trying to save their livelihoods, which are totally dependent on farming.

It is well known that the water-guzzling projects of Coca-Cola have impoverished farmers everywhere, drying up precious aquifers. To call that genuine plight and struggle by the downtrodden in society a ploy by fame-hungry NGOs is pathetic.

About GM seeds — even Government departments such as the Andhra Pradesh Animal Husbandry Department have published official reports that farm animals that fed on GM cotton have died. And internationally reputed scientists have proven that GM foods are directly linked to many new diseases in humans.

It is also a fact that farmers had no choice but to purchase Bt Cotton, as the normal hybrids were not allowed to be sold in the markets. For instance, last year, when I wished to plant non-Bt cotton, there was not a single non-Bt seed variety available in the market.

Saraswati Kavula Farmer, Hyderabad

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