Five people were arrested today for a protest against the promotion and introduction of genetically engineered seeds in India, in the southern city of Bangalore. The protest was mounted despite heavy security to protect the more than 550 delegates from around the world. Greenpeace activists dressed in vegetable suits of tomatoes, eggplants and corn, demonstrated against the promotion and introduction of genetically engineered seeds. Shailendra Yashwant, a Greenpeace spokesperson, told ENS the five arrested are Indian nationals, and identified them as Michelle Chawla, Samir Nazareth, Humphrey Pauro, Nirmala Karunan, and a man who goes by the single name of Raj. Membership in the Asia and Pacific Seed Association is composed of national seed associations, government and intergovernmental agencies, public and private seed companies.
Members hail from around the Pacific Rim, the United States, Europe and South Africa.
Some companies deal only in natural seeds, others such as Dow AgroSciences in the Philippines and Shriram Bioseed Genetics India Ltd. handle genetically modified seeds. Greenpeace demonstrations are well known in Europe and America, but they are a recent phenomenon in India where the group has become active only in recent months. Critics of genetically modified crops say that in addition to the serious environmental risks they pose, the corporate control over seeds is dangerous. Farmers must buy genetically modified seeds anew for each year's crop. They cannot harvest seeds from the current crop to use the following season.