Stop the release of GM mustard into the environment, Doctors write to Prime Minister
Over a hundred medical professionals from different parts of the country have written an open letter to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, pleading with him to halt the release into the environment of the genetically modified mustard DMH-11 and its two parental lines, both of which are resistant to the herbicide glufosinate-ammonium.
In a letter, they said that they had no problem with using gene technology in medicine as long as it was done only after a lot of testing and patients were free to choose whether or not to take part.
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‘The GMO-mediated medications are created in confined settings without any release of GMOs into the environment and can be discontinued or recalled,’ they stated. ‘The GMOs are not released into the environment at any point during the preparation process.’
Farokh E. Udwadia, Ramakant Deshpande, Gopal Kabra, and Rupal M. Dalal are among those who have put their names to the document.
‘However, the use of genetic modification (GM) in agriculture and food is both unpredictable and irreversible, and it has an impact not only on the current generation but also on future generations. ‘It involves changed heritable material that has the ability to breed and spread in living organisms,’ they wrote in the letter. This is what they meant by that.
‘Once it is released into the environment, genetically modified mustard will expand, and so will the use of glufosinate.’ They made the following statement: ‘As medical professionals, we feel it is our obligation to warn about the serious detrimental implications of herbicide-tolerant genetically modified crops.’
Independent research facility for testing
In addition to asking that no transgenic crops be grown, the medical professionals have also asked that no genetically modified crops be released until an impartial testing center can be set up.
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They said, ‘We appeal to you to guarantee uprooting of all DMH-11 mustard that has been planted to prevent the inadvertent or deliberate spread of a GM HT mustard throughout the country.’
Also, they demanded that the illegal spread of genetically modified crops and the illegal use of herbicides stop right away.
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