Please find below a representative sampling of submissions from September - October, 1999. Some submissions have been edited for length. Only those submissions which were not accompanied by a name, location, and valid e-mail address have been omitted.

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Plant biotechnology is the only way to solve the food crisis in the next millenium. The population now is six billion but will reach 12 billion by about 2050. As there are more people you need more land area to live and so only about one eighth of the total land area will be available for cultivation. If we use transgenic crops which are disease resistant, insect resistant, herbicide tolerant etc. we can get a better yield to feed India and the world.

India is a rural country where most of them are poor. It is difficult to eradicate diseases like polio because we need refrigeration facilities, which we don't have. So we can make the plants produce vaccines and distribute it freely to the rural areas. For example, we can have vaccines in banana and eating this banana is as good as taking vaccines.

G.S. Nikhil
Bangalore
gs_nikhil@yahoo.com

I dont see any other way because India is most rapidly growing country in terms of poulation. How can it feeds its population without help of biotechnology? I am sure that environmentalists are not looking at larger picture. Options are simple, Biotech, Ag Chemicals or Malnutrition. Scientists do understand use of harmful chemical to enhance crop production. Why can't so-called environmentalists look at the option? Is there a way to educate these people at a faster pace?

H Shukla
USA
h_shukla@hotmail.com

Potentail contribution of biotechnology for Indian agriculture is tremendous. It can not only save money and labour for farmers that are now used as a cost of chemical pesticides and their spraying, but will also prevent further contamination of severely polluted environment.

Brajesh Kumar Singh
Imperial College, London, UK
brajesh.singh@ic.ac.uk

What about the cost the farmers will have to pay for using this technology especially in poor countries like India. As these technologies are patented these new innovations are heavily priced.

Ashish Shah
Mumbai
shah_ashish@hotmail.com

We Indians are conscious of our production be it grain, cotton, oilseed or babies. What is the use of a bride whose genitals are not functional or non existing? The govt can keep some grain, cotton, etc for breeding and allow the farmer to use GM crops which wiil not poison our land and water. The govt has to check the price and give it the the pds system.

Mathew Mampally
Kerala
mathew_mampally@yahoo.com

Biotech is the hope of the future for the Indian agriculture. India should not hesistate in trying and adopting the new technology that is coming on stream. If India does not adopt the new technology its populations growth might might outstrip the increase in agriculture production.

Gopal K. Pandey
North Carolina, USA
crostrad@concentric.net

Instead of giving big big advertisements that China and other countries have ordered the product, the product should be cheaply available in India itself. That will help the living in India. I am not saying that the product should not be exported. It is good to export the product but at the same time should be made available in India also.

Francis Abreo
Baroda
francis@rscbrc.ernet.in

Please DON'T mess with the environment just to fill your pockets!! Ya, genetic engineering is going to solve the problem of hunger in India, No KIDDING!! All it is intended to do is fill the pockets of Monsanto Inc. & the like.

We had the GREEN REVOLUTION in India earlier, where increased use of pesticides & fertilizers, produced short term results of increasing the food production, only to result in the soil being depleted of it's natural resources. Not to mention the poor health of the people eating large amount of pesticides with their foods.

I hope the Indian community & government will be less SHORT SIGHTED this time. Natural ways of finding solutions to the world's problems can be found in our scriptures. Organic farming is definitely an area which has a higher potential. It's a natural way of existing harmoniously with the environment.

Vikram Khurana
Austin, TX, USA
v0k0302@acs.labs.tamu.edu

About the fears that genetic engineering results in the selling power of the multinationals from the United States, there is no doubt that this is a very true situation, but nobody in India has been held back from developing new technological advances. The government has the authority to put in regulations where the benefit of Indian people comes to harm and so there should be a lively debate on this matter, by everybody sitting in offices as well as those in the field of agriculture itself, because even though we have seats in offices, we are also consumers of products which will be sold in the market.

Thus every case has to be evaluated according to its merit, and there should be a goal to be achieved. Organic farming is definitely a better substitute, but would it be able to feed the billions? Too much reliability on any technology can be harmful and since we have an edge in organic farming, it should be maintained and further developed, but genetic engineering as a whole should not be shunned as an ugly monster.

Rajiv
Israel
rasharma73@HOTMAIL.COM

Developing contries like India cannot afford to ignore for long the new techiques like biotechnology for imroving the quality and quantity of the food production to feed its ever growing population. Results of most of the experiments carried out to test the safety of the altered food have only supported its relevancy. However the biotechnology companies require to educate the ordinary people about its benefit.

Brajesh kumar Singh
Imperial College at Silwood Park, Ascot, UK
brajesh.singh@ic.ac.uk

I very strongly feel that biotech is the only answer to the growing needs of our country. It will improve our standards of living but may take some time. We'll have to accept that risks have to be taken to achieve anything great. Only when we take the risk to develop this new technology of great potential can we reach unimaginable heights in this field. Monsanto has laid the foundation in India & I hope it inspires many others as it has inspired me. GOOD LUCK TO MONSANTO.

Savitha Gurujalam
malleswaram
gsavi@biochem.iisc.ernet.in

Biotechnology is another tool which can be used to solve different problems. Certainly it will increase the food production, but this will be a short term benefit. Through Biotech one can tranfer genes across barriers and produce transgenic crops but the fundamental question of increasing yield per hectare will go down unless money and effort is spent on conservation of environmental factors like soil ph, availability of water, prevent deforestration, etc.

Definitely in my opinion Biotechnology will not improve the standard of living of common farmers. They may produce disease resistant crops, hybrids, etc., but the Indian average farmer will remain poor. More than food, safe drinking water is the main problen facing India today. There are so many technologies and discoveries buried under the science mountain that IT WILL TAKE AGES to uncover and use them all.

subramanian.R
New Delhi
subramanianr@hotmail.com

I am but a beginner as a student in this field, and I do believe in the advantages of biotechnology, but I do have some questions in my mind. I am not sure if questions or doubts do appeal to a more educated person in this subject. I feel that although the production of crops can be boosted with all the techniques of genetic engineering, the thing is, do we retain the same quality as of foods not genetically modified? i.e. if the tomato which is modified has the same taste quality as the nonmodified one, because the Indian population is very taste sensistive and if you have to sell, say, genetically modified product, they would only accept it if it is of a taste similar to the non modified one.

Besides, the public needs to have full information as to the effects of individual transgenes' effect to a person. If the product of the transgene is going to affect the health of the person. No hush-ups, but a sincere publication of results would help in removing the fear of genetically modified products' usage in the minds of people.

Rajiv
Israel
rasharma73@hotmail.com

Definitely biotechnology will contribute lots to Indian agriculture. Here I am expressing more about how to go in to the farmer's mind about transgenics. Even now many farmers who have the bad impresion about the transgenics are also using the seeds produced from transgenics plants like the hybrid seeds and all. Right now no one are trying to use the seeds for next crop from their own crops harvested previously, because they are feeling that if any thing happens (unproper germination, bad yield, etc.) they will lose whole crop.

We (scientists and R&D companies who are producing seeds commercially) should make them aware of the technology. For this we should explain them from basics to the goal through the media like TV channels and awareness programmes in villages about the goal for transgenics, how the transgenic crops are useful to the society, and benefits to the farmers. Now I can definitely say that once the farmers understand the technology, definitely they will choose the same. No one believes any thing blindly. With the awareness programmes scientists can talk about the good ideas and the real problems which apply to the technology. The companies can give samples of products, so that they can believe by their own experimentally.

Bindumadhava Reddy
Bangalore
Bindiya30@hotmail.com

Sir, I am a Ph.D.scholar in seed science and technology at Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). Since this is the first occassion I am in groove with your site, I would like to listen from you before I actually take part in the discussion. Please let me join your band wagon. Thank you.

R.Gowri Shankar
New Delhi
R.GowriShankar@mailcity.com

I do not believe in the promises of delivery of the benefits of technology. The control of the institutions (scientific organisations) is in the hands of a particular people. The US Department of Agriculture tries its best to serve the interests of the American multinationals like Monsanto and the MNC itself is trying its best to convince the Indian counterparts that the technology is good or beneficial. It is the same hegemonic attempt and a folly as was the 'green revolution' in the late 60s and 70s.

I am a student at the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague and here I have been witness to a lively debate between peasants from Karnataka and the Monsanto officials. People like us, on the net, at the centre of things cannot imagine the realities of the day to day life of the impoverished peasantry in India. The Terminator gene technology makes it essential for the farmer to buy new seeds each time. The science in the American laboratories is framed for the growth of the American multinationals. The laissez-faire US government makes no distinction between a domestic policy and its conscious efforts to sabotage the livelihoods of the poor Indian farmer.

Genetic modification of the terminator gene technology is aimed at the market--at throwing the poor farmer to the market. This technology will at best benefit the rich farmers and will be an addendum to the policies that have served to impoverish the masses.

Anurag Srivastava
The Hague, The Netherlands
oracle36@hotmail.com

Application of biotechnology as a commercial technology will help in the development of Indian economy and create an impact on people's lives, improve food productivity, healthcare systems and animal agriculture.

India’s growing population and vast agricultural economy will immensely benefit from the use of rationally developed life sciences and biotech-derived sustainable products for use in agriculture, food productivity and human/animal healthcare.

Amiya Nayak
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
nayakamiya@hotmail.com

Genetically engineered foods should be removed from the food chain. They are a form of pollution which cannot be recalled once released into the environment. Their only purpose is profits for companies like Monsanto, and to satisfy a general desire for high-tech solutions. Can a vegetarian be at ease eating vegetable which contain fish or mosquitos?

The better direction for new food research is in the area of organic farming, which is a renewable and wholesome form of agriculture. Let's not pollute the genetic environment and ruin in a single generation what it took nature millenia to develop. Don't be fooled by the public relations dollars being spent by companies from my country.

Bruce Currivan
Irvine, CA, USA
bjcapc@aol.com