Coming out in support of Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh’s decision to regulate the price of Bt Cotton seed, over 30,000 farmers led by environmentalist Vandana Shiva slammed Monsanto for promoting genetically modified crops in the country. A declaration has also been submitted to Agriculture Ministry’s Deputy Commissioner DS Misra asking the government to regulate the price of Bt Cotton seed immediately and to further ban all GM crops, including GM mustard. Extending her support to farmers, Shiva said, “Monsanto’s hallucinations have a very high cost to India’s freedom and the lives of Indian farmers. Farmers are dying each day due to debt, soils and water are being mindlessly mined and it is evident to everyone that Bt Cotton has a big role in the drought of Vidharba and Marathwada.” Making an appeal to the government to ban Bt Cotton, the environmentalist said that the crop has been described by Maharashtra Task force on agrarian distress as a “killer crop”.