Here is help

Bt Cotton Greenpeace India

The Indian branch of the international environmental organisation Greenpeace has released Kisan Surakhsa Kawach an easy-to-use legal manual to help Bt. cotton farmers get legal protection from seed corporations selling genetically engineered seeds.

"The manual is the final recourse for the farmer to safeguard his/her economic interest when Bt. cotton fails to live up to it's exaggerated claims" said Divya Raghunandan, a Greenpeace campaigner. She urged members of parliament, farmer unions and state governments to demand the legal manual be widely distributed as a statutory warning with every packet of Bt. Cotton.

"The government has abdicated its role as custodians of farmer's interest in favour of transnationals such as Monsanto. The time has come for farmers to protect themselves through self-help" said S S Vasudeva, Legal Counsel, Greenpeace India. "The recent compensation awarded to farmers in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, for their failed Monsanto's Bt. cotton crop is an example of how irresponsible companies can be made accountable by farmers," he added.