Scientists call for ban on GMO mustard in India

Also: Kerala gov't wants to ban GMO mustard.
Bihar chief fights against GMO mustard.
Indian political party AAP against GMO mustard. 
Safety concerns over GMO mustard.

India: spinach from Hyderabad contains pesticides

Spinach can be good for you, if it doesn't contain pesticides.

A survey by some research scholars of Jayashankar Agricultural University revealed this startling reality after testing the samples secured from Rythu bazaars in Mehdipatnam, Gudimalkapur and Shamshabad. The survey found that the leaf vegetable contains 11 types of pesticides, including five commonly used, like chlorpyrifos, triazophos, cypermethrin, deltamethrin and profenofos, Dr Narasimha Reddy, a scientist of Pesticide Action Networks India told The Hans India. He said the pesticides were found to have been sprinkled on the leaves of the vegetable to prolong its longevity post-harvest, after cutting.

Pesticides are in more foods than you think, which is why it's time to have a portable pesticide detector for consumers to check all food. Not all organic food is pesticide- or gmo-free.

Source
Freshplaza.

Indian court blocks GMO mustard!

India leads the way with blocking GMO seeds and plants and this latest decision by an Indian court blocks GMO mustard seed from being grown. Indians are committing suicide due to the high cost of GMO seed. When they use GMO seed they have to buy seed every year, they cannot save seed on their own. The Indian farmers are having so many financial problems with GMO seed they are committing suicide in record numbers from the crushing Monsanto debt.

This site says GMO seeds are not linked to suicides and there is no good source for this statement. This statement was traced back to Vandana Shiva, who is an Indian environmentalist who has said repeatedly that Monsanto’s “suicide seeds” have triggered a “genocide” in India.

More info

1. More stories on mustard seed in India.
2. "Rising rates of suicide blamed on GMO seed". Smaller farms suffer the most. The problem with GMO seeds in India is that they are often “not bred for that area, for rain-fed agriculture, so they fail more frequently,”

Former Monsanto exec admits they faked data on Roundup studies

Former Monsanto Executive Admits Company Faked Scientific Data To Gain Regulatory Approval

1. Former managing director of Monsanto India, Tiruvadi Jagadisan, is the latest to join the critics of Bt brinjal (eggplant).
2. “The Central Insecticide Board was supposed to give these approvals based on the location and crop-specific data from India. But it simply accepted foreign data supplied by Monsanto" says Jagadison now age 84.

Source
Mint News Press. Feb 9, 2016.

GMO problems in India

Indian farmers committing suicide due to GMO crops. In 2002 Indian farmers started using GMO cotton that makes it's own pesticide called Bt so they wouldn't have to buy the very expensive pesticides from Monsanto. Then pests became resistant to the Bt cotton, and the farmers had to switch to other GMO cotton crops, and that means they had to buy seed every year. This leaves many farmers stuck in a cycle of debt from which they have no out, and that leads to bankruptcy.

Sources

1. Suicide figures are here at the New York Uni School of Law.  PDF here. 
2. GMO news related to India from GMO Free Regions.

Monsanto breaks law in India by smuggling GMO seeds

• Monsanto-Mahyco Biotech brought 100 grams of cotton seeds into India, containing the MON531-Bt gene, without the approval of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).
• Monsanto-Mahyco started large scale, open field trials of said Bt cotton in 40 locations spread across nine states, again without GEAC approval. (These could easily mix with non-GMO cotton, and Monsanto would have be able to collect huge fines from impoverished farmers.)
• Some of this GMO cotton was sold in open markets. 
• Indian law does not permit patents on seeds and in agriculture. 
• US officials have pressured India's gov't to change their laws about this.  
• And more cheap tricks by Monsanto. See article.

Source
GMO Inside. Mar 1, 2016. Link to article.