India has banned companies such as Monsanto from conducting GMO seed trials on their land, saying that the risks to public health and the environment are too high. Bihar’s Agriculture Minister, Narendra Kumar Singh, confirmed that India’s food supply will be protected from GMO companies growing genetically modified corn on Indian land and assured the public that seeds will be protected from contamination from genetic material drift. Naturalnews.com reports: His speech was given at the 2014 Seed Festival at the A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies. The Seed Festival featured over 500 different varieties of crop seed. The inaugural event featured agriculture experts from Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Kerala who represent a growing movement against genetically modified crops in India. Singh spoke out about protecting non-GM seed crops: “Seed is the basic unit of input and is the lifeline of agriculture. Attempts are being made by multinational companies to replace our traditional seeds with GM seeds, which would be dangerous for environment and health.” Singh was joined by those with direct field experience, including farmers’ commission chairman C P Sinha, Harit Swaraj convener Vijay Pratap, Jacob Nilethan, an expert from the Asha Alliance, and seed savers. Singh announced that Bihar was [...]