Au Népal, une plainte contre l’importation de semences génétiquement modifiées a été déposée auprès de la Cour suprême. Les plaignants affirment que les semences transgéniques mettre en danger les variétés locales et sont en outre dangereux pour la santé. (Kantipur, 30.12.13)

SC moved against import of GMO seeds         

Source: Kantipur, 30.12.2013;  http://www.ekantipur.com/2013/12/30/business/sc-moved-against-import-of-gmo-seeds/383150.html

KATHMANDU, DEC 30 - A writ was filed in the Supreme Court on Sunday seeking the court’s intervention to prevent the import of genetically modified (GM) seeds developed by Monsanto Company, a USA-based chemical and agricultural biotechnology company.Advocate Arjun Aryal, who filed the writ, has maintained that GM seeds hamper local verities of seeds and is also harmful to the public health. The plaintiff has also maintained importing seeds from a foreign firm results in a huge outflow money.
The petition has come at a time when protests are being staged against the entry of the controversial multinational company in Nepal’s seed business. A group of civil society organisations and farmers staged a mass rally in the Capital on Friday against Monsanto.  National Right to Food Network, a network of NGOs and farmers’ groups, has demanded the government immediately ban the company.
The Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Agriculture, and National Agriculture Research Council, among others, have been named defendants in the writ.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD) said in a press meet on Sunday it found no evidence such products in its sample tests. The ministry said it has started homework to formulate a bio-safety regulation to prevent the import of GM seeds that threaten environment and public health.
According to the ministry, the government will initiate a study on GMOs, transgenic plants and tissue culture produced through bio-technology and genetic engineering.
Although the country has been importing GMO edibles and seeds, absence of necessary law is impeding the government’s effort to control such imports.
Dila Ram Bhandari, chief of Seeds Quality Control Centre under the MoAD, said the government recently started providing approval for selling only those seeds that ensures bio-safety measures. “As per the Seeds Regulation-2012, only the seeds that do not use the terminator technology (non-transferable gene) are allowed to sell,” said Bhandari, adding GMO seeds using the terminator technology can be used for producing crops only once and cannot be reproduced. Bhandari said companies selling such seeds violating the norms will be taken action as per the regulation.
Although regulation has provisioned registration of only those GMO products that do not threaten the ecology and human health, absence of a strong legal framework and lack of an implementing agency has been a challenge for the public authority to control selling such products in the domestic market.
Both the Seeds Act 1988 and Seeds Regulation-2012 has permitted import of only those hybrid seeds that do not pose risk to the environment and public health after fulfilling necessary legal procedures.
Highlighting the need for using hybrid seeds, Dil Bahadur Gurung, executive director of Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), said the use of such seeds could help enhance the productivity. “But enough precaution should be taken while importing GMO seeds,” he said.
Out of 556 types of crops seeds, 215 are developed in the country, while rest 341 are imported. According to NARC, of the imported ones, 17 are paddy seeds, 32 maize and 292 vegetables.
Rejecting claims GMO seeds developed by Mosanto are being sold in the country, MoAD Spokesperson Prabhakar Pathak said only hybrid seeds of the company have been permitted for selling in the local market. According to the ministry, four types of vegetables and five types of maize seeds developed by Monsanto are sold in Nepali.
Meanwhile, the MoAD said the government will provide compensation to farmers who suffered from the use of “improved seeds” that gave poor yield. MoAD Secretary Jay Mukunda Khanal said they have initiated talks with the company that sold the seeds for compensation. He said the ministry has also forwarded a file of the investigation committee to the Finance Ministry.