Aruna Rodrigues

How GMOs will destroy Indian agriculture

Aruna Rodrigues Hybrid Bt cotton, the only commercialised GM crop in India, has failed conclusively. Based on this failure and the evidence on GM crops to date, the Union of India’s proposal to commercialise herbicide-tolerant (HT) mustard will destroy not just Indian mustard agriculture but citizens’ health. There have been five days of intense hearings …

Sickening Profits — The Global Food System’s Poisoned Food and Toxic Wealth

The modern food system is being shaped by the capitalist imperative for profit. Aside from losing their land to global investors and big agribusiness concerns, people are being sickened by corporations and a system that thrives on the promotion of ‘junk’ (ultra-processed) food laced with harmful chemicals and cultivated with the use of toxic agrochemicals. …

India’s GM Mustard: An Increasingly Bitter Taste

Colin Todhunter In a fair world, Aruna Rodrigues would be heralded as an incredible individual for her ongoing struggle to protect the socio-economic and environmental integrity of India. So says respected environmentalist, author and campaigner Leo Saldanha. He adds: Since 2005, she has tirelessly pursued a public interest litigation before the Supreme Court of India, …

India’s GM Mustard: An Increasingly Bitter Taste

In a fair world, Aruna Rodrigues would be heralded as an incredible individual for her ongoing struggle to protect the socio-economic and environmental integrity of India. So says respected environmentalist, author and campaigner Leo Saldanha. He adds: Since 2005, she has tirelessly pursued a public interest litigation before the Supreme Court of India, in which […]

Biotech Giants Using GMOs to Build Food Tyranny

Colin Todhunter The article below was written the day before India’s state-run biotech regulator, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), approved genetically modified (GM) mustard for commercial cultivation. This decision was taken on 26 October 2022. The regulatory clearance for GM mustard means the crop is fit for environmental release. However, the Supreme Court has …

Reckless Gamble for Profit that Placed Indian Cotton Farmers in Corporate Noose

The dubious performance (failure) of genetically engineered Bt cotton, officially India’s only GM crop, should serve as a warning as the push within the country to adopt GM across a wide range of food crops continues. This article provides an outline of some key reports and papers that have appeared in the last few years on Bt cotton in India.