Community | February 13, 2010 | 13 comments

The battle against Monsanto: a victory for science and democracy

source: http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/11935-indias-battle-against-monsanto-rage...

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JanforGore
A first hand report from the GMO battlefront, India.

For over six months now I have been deeply involved, as an ordinary citizen of India in waging a war against the attempts of seed companies like Monsanto to control our food. Add Bill Gates and you have got a powerful mix of people and companies who will stop at nothing. With that kind of money and political power it's next to impossible to stop.

First the facts: Patented gene technologies will not help small farmers survive climate change, but they will concentrate corporate power, drive up costs, inhibit public sector research and further undermine the rights of farmers to save and exchange seeds.
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/10558-the-worlds-top-ten-seed...

Background: Bt Cotton

Armed with the growing power and a 26% share in Mahyco, it's Indian counterpart, Monsanto unleashed Bt Cotton in India. PR, News and other media bought off, people started hearing how Bt cotton has been successful and made for amazing yields.

Till farmers started committing suicide. Today the numbers are placed at more than 200,000. The magical Bt Cotton was neither magical nor so Bt'ed with common sense. Predictably, the secondary pests developed a resistance and started creating havoc.

But the company had paid off the top politicians and greenwashed, blackwashed, bloodwashed the case of Bt Cotton.

Find out more about the humanitarian, ecological, environmental disaster of Bt Cotton here:
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/farmersSuicidesBtCottonIndia.php

Bt Brinjal

So in 2009, the GEAC (Genetic Enginnering Approval Committe) gave the go ahead to the world's first genetically modified food that was to be directly consumed by humans - the Bt Brinjal. Also known as eggplant and aubergine.

Dr. Pushpa Bhargava was a member of the GEAC. A renowned microbiologist, Dr. Bhargava expressed shock at the approval.

Greenpeace launched a campaign protesting the decision.

Millions of educated Indians got into the act.

And within 72 hours, our environment minister, Mr. Jairam Ramesh's offices were flooded with over 70,000 faxes and thousands of emails, saying Bt Brinjal must not be approved.

Never before was such a spontaneous environmental protest seen in this country's history. Jairam Ramesh put off the decision till February. He said he would travel around the country and hold a series of public consultations. He would take the opinion of people, scientists and farmers.

Monsanto-Mahyco had politicians by their side. The science and technology minister of India, the agricultural minister of India came in defense of Bt Brinjal. Said it was harmless.

With all the power in their hands, Monsanto thought it had the game in their hands.

Except they made a little mistake. They hadn't realized that bigger than money, bigger than politics, bigger than anything else is something called the country.

It was India's food security at stake and people came out in millions and took a stand against this blatant attempt at a new kind of colonialism.

And the Indians fought a pitched battle against Monsanto and their allies. Watch videos and see reports here:
http://greenpeace.in/safefood/

Blogs like this were continuously giving out information which the mainstream media and newspapers refused to cover.
http://greatindiansale.blogspot.com/search?q=bt+brinjal
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13 comments // The battle against Monsanto: a victory for science and democracy

  • futuregen
    • 0
      futuregen  

    • samantha 420, thank you for the reference. An excerpt from the facebook blog:

      "...one might pause to ask why the need for such philanthropic intervention arose in the first place. The faltering quality of African agricultural research institutions, and the decline in government spending on agriculture, is a result of the budget austerity imposed by international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, in the 1980s and '90s. As Filipino scholar-activist Walden Bello has noted, Africa exported 1.3 million tons of food a year in the 1960s, but after being subject to international development loans and free-market fundamentalism, today it imports nearly 25 percent of its food. In a 2008 report, the Bank's internal evaluations group lambasted the policies that led to this situation. What the Gates Foundation is doing is using its private money to fund activities that once were in the public domain and were, albeit imperfectly, under democratic control.

      The preference for private sector contributions to agriculture shapes the Gates Foundation's funding priorities. In a number of grants, for instance, one corporation appears repeatedly--Monsanto. To some extent, this simply reflects Monsanto's domination of industrial agricultural research. There are, however, notable synergies between Gates and Monsanto: both are corporate titans that have made millions through technology, in particular through the aggressive defense of proprietary intellectual property. Both organizations are suffused by a culture of expertise, and there's some overlap between them. Robert Horsch, a former senior vice president at Monsanto, is, for instance, now interim director of Gates's agricultural development program and head of the science and technology team. Travis English and Paige Miller, researchers with the Seattle-based Community Alliance for Global Justice, have uncovered some striking trends in Gates Foundation funding. By following the money, English told us that "AGRA used funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to write twenty-three grants for projects in Kenya. Twelve of those recipients are involved in research in genetically modified agriculture, development or advocacy. About 79 percent of funding in Kenya involves biotech in one way or another." And, English says, "so far, we have found over $100 million in grants to organizations connected to Monsanto."

      This isn't surprising in light of the fact that Monsanto and Gates both embrace a model of agriculture that sees farmers suffering a deficit of knowledge--in which seeds, like little tiny beads of software, can be programmed to transmit that knowledge for commercial purposes."

      --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      So the Gates attraction is that "seeds, like little tiny beads of software, can be programmed to transmit that knowledge". How very interesting. Playing God...

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • CalgarC
  • Guyatthebusstation
  • RaceBannon
  • jimmydaperv
    • 0
      jimmydaperv  

    • I am kind of torn on this one. Some of the farmers had huge yields while others killed themselves due to crop failure. It seems that GM foods might be the only ones that will grow in twenty years.

      However, it is total bs to try and push an unwanted product on an entire country using political and monetary force. I am proud of India for standing up. From what I remember over the last few years, it seems that Indians are now the premier protesters in the world. This country could use some coaching from them.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • jimmydaperv:

      Who has huge yields and at what cost to the overall environment? This isn't about yield alone, and it shouldn't be. But that is what Monsanto has made it out to be about by using "yield" as a red herring as opposed to the fact that their GMOs strip soil nutrients which strip carbon, and their socalled "herbicides" are toxic to humans and other species and are spreading to our water sources as their transgenic contamination kills organic crops. The only way to save this planet's sustainability and biodiversity is a global moratorium on ALL GMOs and to have sustainable agricultural methods applied to local ownership of food sources. Industrial fossil fuel agriculture is killing this planet and our climate balance. Yields increase as years pass with organic because of the fact that sustainable agricultural methods hold Co2, do not strip essential nutrients and essentially restore soil health. Who would want a yield to be bigger if it were toxic and in the long run it could wind up being zero because a virus strikes a monoculture world and wipes it all out in one swell swoop causing a major famine?

      Monsanto is very good with the bogus PR and making people think GMOS will be what will feed this world in years to come. That will only come about however at a HUGE price to our biodiversity, health and planet. I say if it ever comes to that we ARE doomed to a life of disease, pollution and a toxic environment our children and theirs will no longer be allowed to enjoy because there will be a PATENT on it all. That is NOT the kind of world we should aspire to bring to our children or ourselves. We can more than feed the world with organic if we look to changing the mechanism that allows access to food. Get the IMF and WTO out of our food policy and tell the USDA that we will boycott Monsanto and any other untested BS organism they deign to put into our food without our knowledge or consent. I do fear this will have to come down to guerilla gardening tactics and other passive resisitance. Don't think they are delighted with this decision and are giving up. That is why we have to support the farmers of India and in this and any other country who stand up to this blatant corporate colonialist attack on our food and water. It is for sure a human rights abuse along with being an attack on our environment and freedom.

    • 1 year ago
  • growdude420
    • 0
      growdude420  

    • I would not be upset if everyone on Monsanto's board of trustees died a miserable and painful death. In fact, they deserve it. They have inflicted so much pain and suffering, and the worst part is yet to come.

      It's time we burned them to the fucking ground.

    • 1 year ago
  • stolenapples
  • CalgarC
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  

    • Excerpt:

      'This was a victory of science.

      As the Scottish Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham said "We know very little, if anything, about the long-term effects of growing GM crops. To take risks with our natural environment is wholly indefensible and irresponsible. We simply cannot afford to take risks with untested technologies.

      "We are ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with other nations who are opposed to GM and fight for what our people want. It is clear that concerns about GM exist in the developing, as well as the developed world, and I am pleased to see that the Indian Government has listened to public opinion."

      The battle of the brinjal has been won. But the war continues around the world.'

      Further reading:

      Monsanto on Monsanto:
      http://www.tehelka.com/story_main43.asp?filename=Ne200210go_aheads.asp

      All the answers to questions like will GMOs solve world's hunger?
      http://greatindiansale.blogspot.com/2009/10/great-indian-lab-rat.html

      Sunita Narain on the decision:
      http://www.business-standard.com//india/storypage.php?autono=385392
      _______________

      This battle has been won, for now. The war for food sovereignty and biodiversity goes on.

    • 1 year ago
  • CalgarC
  • artemis6
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