Writ filed against the import of GMO seeds

Advocate Arjun Aryal filed a writ in the Supreme Court today seeking the court’s intervention to halt the import of genetically modified (GM) seeds developed by a USA-based chemical and agricultural biotechnology company Monsanto.

The plaintiff asking that the GM seeds hamper local verities of seeds and is also harmful to the public health, maintained that importing seeds from a foreign firm results in a huge outflow money.

As there has been a huge uproar against the controversial multinational company in Nepal’s seed business, Aryal went to the Court asking for its intervention.

National Right to Food Network, a network of NGOs and farmers’ groups, has demanded the government immediately ban the company.

However, Ministry of Agriculture Development said that it has started homework to formulate a bio-safety regulation to prevent the import of GM seeds that threaten  not only crops but also environment and public health.

The government will start a study on GMOs, transgenic plants and tissue culture produced through bio-technology and genetic engineering, it added.