The
Indian government is suing Monsanto, charging that the biotechnology company is
stealing Indian plants in order to genetically modify them and create products it
can then patent and sell for profit.
A
public outcry arose when the corporate giant created a genetically modified
variety of eggplant, a popular food plant native to India that exists in more
than 2,000 varieties and is grown by millions of Indian farmers. Responding to
public pressure, the government banned the Monsanto-created product, popularly
dubbed a “Frankencrop,” in 2010.
The
government alleges that the company has continued to engage in acts of
biopiracy, violating India’s Biological Diversity Act by stealing indigenous
crops and quietly growing them in test fields.
The Indian government’s legal offensive
is not the only arena in the ongoing struggle to defend Indian agriculture.
Farmers and their activist supporters have strongly opposed Monsanto’s efforts,
and they have destroyed several test fields in which crops were allegedly
genetically manipulated for corporate profit.
