58 SOCIAL SCIENTIST crops as well as the collection of medicinal plants. The varieties marketed by TNGs depend on specific pesticides and herbicides marketed by the same TNCs. The seed-petro-chemical industry fusion offers several advantages to the TNCs, besides the obvious one of an integrated orientation to plant breeding and agro-chemical R&D. They also profit by marketing seeds coated by protcctants like fungicides, dovetailing pesticide and seed rese'arch to produce compatible seeds and biocides which may even be critically dependent on each other. This also provides enormous savings by developing combined seed/agro-chemical advertising packages. The international marketing and sales promotion network of the TNCs often creates a situation where farmers have little choice. Companies like Ciba-Geigy, Hoechst, Sandoz, Bayer, Pfizer, etc which are among the top ranking TNCs in the seed, agro-chemical and pharmaceutical industry and other TNCs like Hindustan Liver, Wimco etc are believed to be investing heavily in plant breeding, and tissue culture R&D in India. There are ^Iso sufficient grounds to conclude that many of these TNCs have started germ plasm collection otf medicinal and exotic plants. The exotic plants from which are derived several drugs and aromatics, still form an important component of industry. A US study revealed that the retail value of plant-derived drugs in the US alone was three million dollars. According to officials of Bayer, a TNC which is the world's top-ranking firm in pesticides and second ranking in pharmacueticals, of 8,742 entries in West Germany's (1982) pharmaceutical 'Rol,e liste", 1,251 drugs were derived solely from plants. Estimates prepared by Bayer also show that 40 per cent of the global turnover in the industry is based oh material obtained from plants, and in areas like antibiotics and laxatives almost 90 per cent of drugs is based on plant material.l3 In a country like India with its rich diversity of exotic plants, while TNCs have already begun to tap this potential in 3. big way, the government has done precious little either to stop the indiscriminate exploitation of our exotic plant genetic material or to conserve and store the invaluable germ plasm. A cursory survey of the issues involved in the genetic resources dispute clearly brings out the very far-reaching consequences which the political control of the plant genetic resources entails. Even under the framework of the existing technologies, not to speak of emerging ones like biotechnology which is explicitly based on genetic manipulation, plant genetic resources are crucial to world agriculture, drug and pharmaceutical industry, agro-chemical industry and even for asserting national independence. Neo-colonial control over plant genetic material originating from the Third World has already shown ^ighs of becoming another weapon for subjugating the developing and underdeveloped countries by forcing the entire agricultural development to be at the 13 opcit 1, pp 122-123.