Mahyco office vandalised for suspected GM crop trials

The office of Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco), a subsidiary of Monsanto was vandalised and ransacked by unidentified miscreants.

The attack was due to a mistaken belief that Mahyco was conducting trials for insect-tolerant crops in West Bengal, Mahendra Sharma, general manager of Mahyco, said.

Mahyco is currently engaged in trials of regular hybrids of paddy and bhindi (lady's finger) that have nothing to do with genetically-improved crops, Sharma said, adding, these trials are part of regular research to develop new hybrids and test their efficacy.

Mahyco had conducted trials of insect-tolerant paddy and bhindi in West Bengal in 2006 in strict conformity with the regulations laid down by the Centre and with the permission and knowledge of the West Bengal Agriculture Department, Sharma said.

"Those are long over and no such trials are on at the moment," he added.

"Scientists around the world, including China, many parts of Europe and Latin America, are working on new technologies in agriculture to help farmers meet the challenge of sustainable agriculture using less land, water and pesticides. Some of these new technologies pertain to hybrids, which have nothing to do with biotechnology or genetically modified crops," Sharma said.

He said recent reports in a section of the media over the past few days alleging surreptitious trials of insect-tolerant crops in the state led to the incident.