BT brinjal // Current

Sustainable Agriculture Group's Monsanto RoundUp: satyagraha edition

The Monsanto RoundUp has been a feature of the Sustainable Agriculture Group where I... more

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New GMO bill in India threatens critics with prison

EXTRACTS: The latest version of the Biotech Regulator Bill in India seems to have draconian clauses to stifle anti-GM voices in the country and is designed to be a Clearing House for GMO applications rather than to protect the health and environment in the country... Rather than penalize those who intend to release GMOs without conclusive safety..., clauses like this are being inserted to harass concerned voices.
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NEW BIOTECH REGULATOR BILL TO STIFLE ANTI-GM VOICES
"INDIA NEEDS A NATIONAL BIOSAFETY PROTECTION AUTHORITY"

New Delhi, February 16, 2010: Terming the proposed Biotech Regulator Bill (Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill) as the wrong bill by the wrong people for the wrong reasons, concerned activists across the country called for the setting up of a National Biosafety Protection Authority.

The Supreme Court observer in Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), Dr Pushpa Bhargava objected to the fact that the proposed Authority is to be housed under the Department of Biotechnology/Ministry of Science & Technology and said that this in itself is objectionable conflict of interest. "The latest version of the Biotech Regulator Bill in India seems to have draconian clauses to stifle anti-GM voices in the country and is designed to be a Clearing House for GMO applications rather than to protect the health and environment in the country. Further, modern biotechnology is a vast field comprising of more than thirty distinct areas including immuno-technology, stem cell technologies, nano-biotechnology etc., whereas this proposed Biotech Regulator appears to look at just Genetic Engineering. To call it a regulator for modern biotechnology is misleading and only shows the ignorance of the people who drafted this Bill", pointed out Dr Bhargava, Founder-Director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.

There was serious objection to the inclusion of a Section in the proposed Bill which says "whoever, without any evidence or scientific record misleads the public about safety of GMOs and products thereof shall be punished" with imprisonment and fine! "This is meant to harass civil society groups and scientists who are voicing their concern on this technology. And who is to decide on "misleading", on what basis?", asked Dr Bhargava. Rather than penalize those who intend to release GMOs without conclusive safety proven, clauses like this are being inserted to harass concerned voices, he said.

"This Biotech Regulator Bill is being pushed by the Department of Biotechnology, a department with the mandate to promote GM crops. It is trying to take advantage of the current debate in the country around Bt Brinjal (a first-of-its-kind Genetically Modified vegetable with a bacterial gene in it) and push its own agenda in the form of this Bill. The nation-wide debate that Bt Brinjal initiated had actually shown the dire need for a regulator who Indians can trust to protect their health and environment – we need a National Biosafety Protection Authority and not another 'facilitator' for the industry. The wide-ranging people's voices all over the country now show that any attempt to allow backdoor entry of Bt Brinjal or other GMOs through BRAI or some such institution will be resisted. The proposed statute also tries to stifle the legitimate authority of state governments over Agriculture and vests decision-making in the hands of just a few technical people whereas the issue of GMOs in our food and farming systems has many facets beyond the purely technical", said Kavitha Kuruganti of Kheti Virasat Mission.EXTRACTS: The latest version of the Biotech Regulator Bill in India seems to have... more

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The battle against Monsanto: a victory for science and democracy

A first hand report from the GMO battlefront, India. For over six months now I have... more

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Victory! India bans planting of first GMO food crop ( Bt brinjal)

This is big news! Should this have been approved, Monsanto would have gotten its foot... more

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GMOs contaminate the world- and no one here cares

Ever felt that the approval of GM crops and foods by GM 'regulators' across... more

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More than 100,000 indians fast agaisnt BT brinjal

MORE THAN A LAKH INDIANS OBSERVE A ONE-DAY FAST ON MARTYRS' DAY TO STOP BT... more

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Heated protests take place over BT brinjal in India

Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh faced angry protests... more

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Fast in India to protest against BT brinjal

The Kerala Agriculture-Environmental Collective has called for a State-wide Fast on Martyrs Day January 30th 2010, with the message of Remembering the Mahatma, Stopping Bt brinjal and Protecting Food and National Sovereignty.

The Call for the Fast was given today at a Press Conference by the Minister for Agriculture, Sri Mullakara Rathnakaran, Smt Sugathakumari, Poet and Environmentalist and Dr V S Vijayan, Chairman, Kerala State Biodiversity Board. Members of the Collective also attended the meeting. A notice of the fast and a poster was also distributed to the media persons.

The Minister asked "people from all walks of life to join the fast. The main venue will be the Martyrs Square in trivandrum, and there will be venues in other districts as well. But those who cannot make it to the venue should take this call and undertake the fast, wherever they are". He also added that "kerala and many other states, following kerala's position have not decided not to allow Bt Brinjal. This vindicates Kerala's stand.". Welcoming the move by the Agriculture Ministry to join the fast Smt Sugathakumari said "that it is time to re-think on all these technologies that for years have enslaved and poisoned us, now they want to capture all our rights over the food, and keep us poisoned for ever. How can we allow these MNCs to decide the future of our food". Dr V S Vijayan explained in detail how the MNCs are trying to mislead the Governments and the common public by their propaganda. "If Bt Cotton was such a success, then why did farmers in Bt Cotton areas suicide ?" he asked. He also talked about the total genetic diversity loss that can happen when GM crops are introduced.

Sugathakumari, who had earlier talked to Prof M S Swaminathan, before attending the press conference, shared what the Father of Green revolution wanted her to share with the media. He had said that Bt Brinjal should not be introduced for three reasons - that an independent government owned testing facility has not done the tests, and it was based on only privately generated data ( he reminded Sugathakumari of his own recommendations in 2004 of setting up an internationally qualified lab for this purpose), secondly he said that consumption of thoroughly untested Bt Brinjal is like the case of tobacco - a chronic dosage issue, and thirdly, he said this should not be introduced in any agro-biodiversity hotspots, as it will destroy the indigenous varieties. He also shared that he has spoken about this to the Minister of Environment and Forests , Sri Jairam Ramesh on this matter.

Sri Mullakara Rathnakaran finally asked the support of the media to reach out the message to all, so as to ensure wide participation and success. Members of the Collective, S Usha and Sridhar R were also present in the press conference.The Kerala Agriculture-Environmental Collective has called for a State-wide Fast on... more

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India's GMO scandal: BT brinjal approval rigged

Monsanto and USAID interfering in India's agricultural policy. Anyone surprised?

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4 months ago
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1 comment

BT brinjal biosafety assessment a disaster for India

"I have never seen less professionalism in the presentation and quality assurance... more

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Farmers protest: "Stop GM trials; Monsanto, quit India"

Let the seed satyagraha begin. We need farmers everywhere, particulary here in America... more

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12 months ago
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India: doctors and scientists call for GM ban

Field trials for BT brinjal are set to begin, however, tests have not been adequate in... more

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Poison in your stomach: genetically modified eggplants

After experimenting with rats, goats, sheep and cows, it is now the turn of Indian people. In a few months from now, if the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of India has its way, the first genetically modified food crop Bt Brinjal will be on your table.

Whether it is the laboratory rats or higher mammals, the animal kingdom has been more discerning possibly owing to a sixth instinct which human beings sadly lack. There is otherwise no explanation for why laboratory rats, for instance, should always be spurning GM foods. And when force fed, rats have invariably developed tumours and deformed body organs, including kidneys and livers, as well as serious diseases and ailments.

We have heard repeatedly of the death of sheep and goats when left to graze in the Bt cotton fields of India. First it was reported from Andhra Pradesh, and now newspaper reports point to the south-Indian state of Orissa. However, not much is public about how the cattle react. Several farmers in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana have told me that cows avoid the Bt cotton fields when left to openly graze.

The Bt gene that has been infused in Bt cotton (or Bt corn on which most of the laboratory rat studies have been conducted) is no different from the same gene drawn from a soil bacterium scientifically called Bt that is now being incorporated in Brinjal. This gene releases a toxin within the plant that kills fruit-and-shoot borer insects. The Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco), which is spearheading research on Bt Brinjal, claims that the genetically-modified Brinjal is safe for human consumption.

I have never been placated by the safety claims made by these companies. For several decades now we were told that cigarette smoking wasn't harmful to human health, that chemical pesticides were completely safe, and that white sugar poses no danger to the human body. These are not the only products that received the safety certificate - the list is endless. And yet decades later, after inflicting a heavy human cost the world over, most of these products are being banned or phased out. Long since sugar-based food products hit the market and were vouched safe, diabetes has suddenly assumed epidemic proportions.

Diabetes is a case in point: notwithstanding that the disease is growing at an alarming scale, the disappearance of the traditionally-cultivated Brinjal from the market will surely take away one of the simple home remedies and widely-practiced dietary solutions to combating the Type-2 diabetes. I too suffer from Type-2 diabetes, and therefore find it appalling that no scientific organisation, including the GEAC, is coming clean on what the genetically modified Brinjal will mean for people like me.
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If you don't believe me, let us listen to Prof Dave Schubert of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California: The Bt toxin is 1000 times more concentrated than in Bt sprays, which do not themselves have a history of safe use. In other words, what Dr Schubert says is that genetically modified Bt plants, and that includes Bt Brinjal, carry a toxin that is a thousand times more potent than what is used to kill insects. Strains of Bt have been used as sprays to control harmful insets. Spine chilling, isn't it?

The problem is that once Bt Brinjal enters the market, there is no way you can distinguish it from the normal ones. Your vegetable vendor will never be able to sell you the normal Brinjal that you are so used to buying. Moreover, once the genie is out, there is no way to call it back.
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India is once again to be the guinea pig to make biotech companies profits. As the article states, there is no shortage of eggplants (brinjal) in India. There is no other reason for this but profit at the expense of health. And once again without disclosure. It is despicable.After experimenting with rats, goats, sheep and cows, it is now the turn of Indian... more

JanforGore
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1 year ago
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21 comments

TAGS

tagged w/ BT brinjal

Sustainable Agriculture Group's Monsanto RoundUp: satyagraha edition

New GMO bill in India threatens critics with prison

The battle against Monsanto: a victory for science and democracy

Victory! India bans planting of first GMO food crop ( Bt brinjal)

GMOs contaminate the world- and no one here cares

More than 100,000 indians fast agaisnt BT brinjal

Heated protests take place over BT brinjal in India

Fast in India to protest against BT brinjal

India's GMO scandal: BT brinjal approval rigged

BT brinjal biosafety assessment a disaster for India

Farmers protest: "Stop GM trials; Monsanto, quit India"

India: doctors and scientists call for GM ban

Poison in your stomach: genetically modified eggplants

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