Glyphostate herbicides a health hazard: Greenpeace

Says field trials by manufacturers have been conducted without any safety standard in place

GN Bureau | August 5, 2011




A report by the Greenpeace India said that use of glyphosate-based herbicides poses risks to human health as well as environment. The report accused multinational biotech companies - Monsanto, Pioneer and Dow Agrosciences of aggressively pushing for herbicide tolerant GM crops in India.

“Monsanto has been trying to introduce herbicide tolerant GM maize in India. Presently GM maize field trials are allowed in 11 locations across 8 states in the country,” the report titled ‘Herbicide tolerance and GM crops’ held.

The report compiled from data from the across the globe said, “Glyphosate can cause serious health effects like human birth defects, abnormalities in vital reproductive hormones as well as blood cancer.” Greenpeace India also alleged that promotion of herbicide tolerant GM crops can lead to increased use of these herbicides in India.

The task force headed by eminent agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan reported, “India should not permit herbicide tolerant GM crops as they would lead to loss of employment in the agriculture sector especially for women whose survival depends on manual weeding.”

“It is shocking that open field trials of such risky crops are being permitted without any safety study being conducted independently,” said Kapil Mishra, sustainable agriculture campaigner for Greenpeace India.

Greenpeace also demanded proposed biotechnology regulatory authority of India (BRAI) bill to be put in the public domain. The BRAI bill is likely to be introduced in this session of parliament.
 

Comments

 

Other News

Railways imposed ₹5.13 crore fine for food quality and hygiene violations

Indian Railways serve about 58 crore meals every year on an average. About only 0.0008% food quality related complaints are received on average. Based on complaints during the last three years, appropriate penal actions have been taken by IRCTC. Such actions include imposition of fines amounting to ₹5.13

STHAVAR: Why every Indian built asset needs a permanent digital identity

India has built digital systems for identity, payments, taxation, documents, logistics and public services. State governments, ministries, infrastructure agencies and urban local bodies have also created portals for land records, building permissions, project monitoring, property taxation and municipal s

Saksham Skill census identifies 22,000 job-ready candidates in one Mumbai ward

A first-of-its-kind AI-enabled skill census conducted in Mumbai`s H-West Ward has identified a potential livelihood pipeline of nearly 22,000 candidates, generated over 32,000 provisional job matches while revealing that 71.2 per cent of surveyed homemakers are willing to join the workforce, according to

GI tags: Scaling traditional wealth into global brands

Geographical Indication (GI) tags have emerged as a powerful tool for protecting India`s cultural heritage, while creating economic opportunities for local communities. By linking products to their place of origin, GI tags preserve traditional knowledge, prevent misuse, and enhance consumer trust. They h

BMC: 207 officials in ACB net, 112 still on duty, 68 retire before justice catches up

There are significant delays in the handling of corruption cases involving officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), a Right to Information (RTI) response obtained by rights activist Jeetendra Ghadge has revealed. As of 30 April 2026, 207 BMC officials face Anti-Corruption Bureau (A

The transformation trap: Why efficiency is not innovation

Every company is transforming, or so it claims.   There was a time when the word ‘transformation’ carried weight. It signified bold strategic shifts, reinvention of business models, and breakthrough technologies that fundamentally changed how organizations created

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter