Seed Regulators in India (and UK) Concerned at ‘Seed Terrorism’ from China
The Hindu newspaper August 3rd reports that China’s advanced biotechnology could pose a threat to Indian food security. The National Seed Association of India (NSAI) wants the Union government to put its agencies on high alert against Chinese seeds penetrating into Indian fields. It has asked the government to have in place adequate plans to deal with the ‘seed terrorism’. Indian biodiversity is fragile and could be overturned with seed contamination. “China is studying Indian germplasm and seeds for the last 20-25 years and taking hybrid parent lines back to China. Indian germplasm is being exported without any hindrance,” said the Director, Policy and Outreach, NSAI. He added that Indian companies cannot set up a seed company in China but Chinese companies can do so in India. “No foreign seeds can be imported into India without government approval but this is being bypassed”, he added.
“Such seed terrorism could create a threat to food security. China has much-advanced biotechnology and has the capacity to destroy Indian food production. The NSAI is going to write to the government requesting it to take stringent steps to stop seed contamination” said the Director. This follows a warning by the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA), which has already cautioned the Indian government about smuggling of suspicious and unrecognised (spurious) seed into the country through e-commerce entities following such incidents in the USA during the past week
Read the full story ……….
[Relayed by Gopal Krishna, Western Ghats Forum]
Meanwhile, TAAI member Alasdair Wyllie reports similar serious concerns from the UK, where Amazon appears to have been exploiting seed shortages during the lockdown by ‘selling’ unregulated seeds from China on-line. Please read his disturbing account.
The advice from the UK (DEFRA) regulators, APHA, is very clear:
- Only buy seeds from reputable and established UK suppliers.
- If you do receive seeds by post from China, you should send them and their packages to APHA at Alchemy, Bessemer Rd., Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 1HE, UK.
