Lectures on natural farming, including Gandhian farming, a march and signature campaign marked the ‘March Against Monsanto,’ organised jointly by the Vidhai Foundation, Cure Trust and Aakkam Trust in association with Tamil Nadu Sarvodaya Mandal here on Saturday.
The event is organised all over the world on May 23 against Monsanto, the leading genetic engineering company that produces more than 90 per cent of the world’s genetically modified organisms (GMO).
The event started with a lecture programme on different topics at the Tamil Nadu Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, with Yogesh Karthik of Vidhai Foundation explaining the objectives of the campaign against GMO. Padamuthu, secretary, Tamil Nadu Sarvodaya Mandal, spoke on Gandhian agriculture, followed by M. Balasubramanian alias Pamayan of Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Technology Forum on genetically modified seeds; Dinakaran of Madura College on the impact of genetic modification technology; Ramachandran of Farm Aid on future of agriculture and Muthukrishnan, consumer activist, on GMO and consumer rights.
The speakers explained how GMO posed a threat to nature and humanity with the technology of modifying the natural genes of an organism with that of extremely different organisms. They also spoke on the impact of GMO on human health, biodiversity and environment.
The public were urged to understand the nature of food they ate and to avoid genetically modified food and seedless fruits and vegetables. The meeting appealed to the government to label existing GM products as ‘Genetically Modified’ to protect the rights of consumers.
The meeting was followed by a march from Gandhi Museum to Anna bus stand, where the signature campaign was organised against GMO.
