Nagpur:  Farmers under the leadership of the Maharshtra state unit of Bharatiya Krishak Samaj (Indian Farmers’ Organisation) today intercepted the Union environment minister, Jairam Ramesh while he was on his way to preside over the public consultation on Bt brinjal and shouted slogans against the proposed introduction of Bt brinjal.

They burnt an effigy of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) in the presence of the minister. According to them “the GEAC with some handpicked scientists and so-called experts was responsible for pushing the approval of Bt brinjal.”

The farmers said that the Bt brinjal not only can create ecological problem on account of gene flow resulting in genetic contamination, but also can prove hazardous to human and animal health as revealed by series of studies by independent scientists. The GEAC has deliberately overlooked the safety aspects of Bt brinjal, bowing to the pressures from US seed multinational, Monsanto and the US Administration, they said.

The farmers shouted slogans against the corporate takeover of Indian agriculture and demanded that the seed multinationals should leave the country.

The national President of Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary in a statement lauded the farmers for demonstrating against the introduction of Bt brinjal. “The GEAC has committed a scientific fraud in approving Bt brinjal. Worlwide studies done by independent scientists have revealed health and ecological hazards of Bt brinjal,” he said.

The local police arrested the President of the Maharshtra unit of Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, Sanjay Jadhav, the youth wing president of the Nasik unit of Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, Dr Pramod Bairagi, and three other members of the Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, namely, Dada Saheb Gaikwad, Ramesh Changle and Bala Saheb Mate. The farmer leaders were released after six hour detention.