M A I L B A G

Impact of GM crops on human health

I refer to the article, “A crop of questions,” (Spectrum, August 20). The impact of GM crops on human health and biodiversity remains unpredictable, untested and irreversible. Despite seven years of laboratory and field experiments and five years of cultivation of Bt Cotton, the debate on unexpected health and environmental risks of genetically engineered cotton remains unresolved.

The price of this unscientific approval is being paid by the debt-ridden farmers of Vidarbha and other cotton-growing areas. Approving Bt Brinjal for open-air trials would be a shorsighted decision; one that would lead to probably the largest human feeding trial ever conducted.

This decision will adversely impact our country’s biodiversity and impact human and animal health, simply because GM crops can never adequately be tested for safety. Additionally, these are likely to increase pesticide use instead of lowering it. Any GM experiment that is released into the field can never be reversed. These crops were designed not because they are more nutritious but because they help the likes of Monsanto-Mahyco sell more seeds, fertilisers and pesticides.

Gene Hashmi, Director-Communications Greenpeace India, Bangalore

Partition victims

This refers to Margaret Bourke-White’s remarks quoted by Humra Quraishi in her write-up “Khushwant goes down memory lane” (Aug 20): “Babies were born along the way. People died along the way. Many of them simply dropped…From sheer weariness…”

What occurred in the wake of the Partition was perhaps the goriest of gory happenings which ever took place in the world. Barbarity supplanted humanity. Lakhs of people were ruthlessly killed. Thousands of women and girls were abducted and raped. Sahir Ludhianvi said: Zamin ney khoon ugla aasmaan ney aag barsaai/ jab insaanon key dil badley to insaanon pe kya guzri.

The very thought of the trauma we had to undergo while leaving our village in Pakistan in a state of chaos when a mammoth mob of ruffians attacked it around midnight and the hardships we had to face in reaching India sends shivers down my spine.

BHAGWAN SINGH, Qadian

Fighting corruption

This has reference to Harihar Swarup’s profile of Anna Hazare (Sunday Oped, Aug 20). Anna Hazare has two missions in life — fighting corruption and ensuring economic and social transformation of all the villages.

Apart from corruption, India today is facing major problems such as population explosion, price rise, poor infrastructure, inadequate irrigation, drug addiction, illiteracy, religious fundamentalism, poverty, unemployment and so on.

Thousands of poor farmers commit suicide and the minorities live in constant fear. Corruption has become a way of life leading to poor infrastructure, poor regulations and day-to-day hassles for the common man.

Instead of making India a land of skyscrapers and software corporations, the government should also focus on vital issues and solve crucial problems faced by the people.

IQBAL SINGH SAROYA, Mohali