March against GM crops in Dhaka Saturday

A demonstration has been planned in Bangladesh on Saturday to raise awareness about the genetically modified seeds and cancer-linked herbicide of Monsanto Company.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 22 May 2015, 05:34 PM
Updated : 22 May 2015, 05:34 PM

The protesters will join thousands of others who will march across 38 countries and 428 cities.

Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) and Poribesh Bachao Andolon (POBA) will lead the event in Bangladesh, a media statement said.

BAPA and POBA, along with other organisers, will form a human chain in front of the Institute of Fine Arts from 9.30am.

There will be a “musical question and answer night” about the environment and genetic modification in Bangladesh at Jatra Biroti on the Kemal Ataturk Avenue.

Bangladesh was the first South Asian country to allow cultivation of genetically modified BT Brinjal in 2013.

However, a wide variety of brinjals are now exposed to ‘transgenic contamination’ by the genetically version owned by Monsanto, the statement added.

The government is trialling cultivation of other genetically modified crops, including cotton, tomato, potato and paddy.

The organisers say they will protest against the use of Monsanto’s best-selling herbicide Roundup, which is being used in tea gardens in Bangladesh.

A recent World Health Organization’s report lists Roundup as a probable cause of cancer.