12.09.2003
In one of the many protests going on in the context of the WTO Ministerial meeting, Indian farmers in Karnata have targeted Monsanto. In Karnataka more than 35,000 demonstrated on the this Wednesday, 10th of September.
Yesterday, Thursday 11th September, more than 40 farmers of the Karnataka State Farmers Association ransacked a building used by the biotech, Monsanto, in the city of Bangalore on Thursday after staging noisy protests.
The attack came a day after the group demonstrated in the city against more than 70 suicides by farmers in the state in the past three months which the farmers blame on debt, drought and the introduction of Monsanto's genetically modified crops.
Monsanto is active in several southern Indian states, where it has angered environmentalists and farmers by spearheading the cultivation of genetically modified cotton.
The head of Karnataka State Farmers Association, Professor MD Nanjundaswamy, has been leading a campaign against multinational food corporations in the state. The association has in the past torched several farms in the state where Monsanto's new cotton crop was being trialled.
The environmental group, Greenpeace, has joined protests against Monsanto by calling on the company to withdraw its seeds from market.
Source: Third World Network and BBC