Seth Haniel
12-18-2008, 03:37 PM
But there are still many activists opposed to GM crops in India.
Some argue there is a direct link between the thousands of suicides among cotton farmers in Maharashtra and the introduction of BT cotton in the area.
A recent study by the International Food Policy Research Institute concluded there was no evidence of a direct link, but said the cost of BT cotton may have been a contributing factor in specific cases.
But environmental activist Vandana Shiva is still not convinced.
"The more recent escalation of suicides has been in the region of Vidarbhah and if you look at the data of expansion of BT cotton the highest expansion has taken place there," she says.
"In Vidharbah, one farmer is killing himself every six hours and the separation of suicides from BT cotton is the worst lie because if you do a suicide map of this country and you do a BT sales map of this country - you have a one-to-one co-relation in terms of the districts," she maintains.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7785212.stm
Some argue there is a direct link between the thousands of suicides among cotton farmers in Maharashtra and the introduction of BT cotton in the area.
A recent study by the International Food Policy Research Institute concluded there was no evidence of a direct link, but said the cost of BT cotton may have been a contributing factor in specific cases.
But environmental activist Vandana Shiva is still not convinced.
"The more recent escalation of suicides has been in the region of Vidarbhah and if you look at the data of expansion of BT cotton the highest expansion has taken place there," she says.
"In Vidharbah, one farmer is killing himself every six hours and the separation of suicides from BT cotton is the worst lie because if you do a suicide map of this country and you do a BT sales map of this country - you have a one-to-one co-relation in terms of the districts," she maintains.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7785212.stm