05.06.09
Posted in AGRICULTURE COUNCIL, NEWS FROM INDIA at 12:37 pm by YUDHISTRA
http://articles. mercola.com/ sites/articles/ archive/2009/ 05/05/Could- Monsanto- Be-Responsible- for-One-Indian- Farmers-Death- Every-Thirty- Minutes.aspx
Could Monsanto Be Responsible for One Indian Farmer’s Death Every Thirty Minutes?
Over 1,500 farmers in the agricultural Indian state of Chattisgarh have committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure. The state was hit hard by falling water levels.
Bharatendu Prakash, of the Organic Farming Association of India, said that, “Farmers’ suicides are increasing due to a vicious circle created by money lenders. They lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death.”
Mr. Prakash added that the government needs to take up the cause of the poor farmers just as they fight for a strong economy.
Dr. Mercola’s Comments:
Genetically modified plants and foods are, from my perception, one of the largest threats that we have against the very sustainability of the human race and a healthy future existence on earth{. Let’s face it, how long can your descendants survive if there isn’t any food to eat, and Monsanto’s “suicide gene” starts spreading to other native plants so they won’t reproduce naturally? }
Although Monsanto claims this is impossible, is their shortsighted focus on profits is blinding them to the very real threats that their technology is posing to the viability of life on earth? And that’s over and above the unimaginable, direct harm their “scientific marvels” bring to some of the poorest and most vulnerable people on the planet, such as these Indian farmers.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, more than 182,900 Indian farmers took their own lives between 1997 and 2007. It estimates 46 Indian farmers commit suicide every day. That equates to roughly one suicide every 30 minutes!
And although some will argue that natural events are to blame, such as lack of rain, the fact many believe the situation can be traced directly back to the unconscionable tactics of Monsanto, which is driving these farmers into very desperate actions.
Monsanto’s Role in Farmers’ Suicides
Over the past decade, millions of Indian farmers have been promised radically increased harvests and income if they switch from their traditional age tested farming methods to genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton seeds. So, they borrow money to buy GM seeds, which need certain pesticides, which requires more money. And when rain fall is sparse, the GM crops fare far worse than traditional crops – a fact that these farmers oftentimes don’t learn until it’s too late and they’re standing there with failed crops, spiraling debts, and no income.
Monsanto has been ruthless in their drive to use India as a testing ground for genetically modified crops, and it gives us a very clear picture of what could be in store for the rest of the world’s small farmers if they’re allowed to continue.
Making matters worse, {these GM seeds also contain “suicide genes” that render the seeds from this year’s crop useless. They simply won’t grow, so you cannot save them to plant for your next season’s harvest – a traditional farming method that’s been used since the dawn of farming itself. This means farmers are forced to buy the patented seeds and fertilizer again and again, every year. }
But that’s not all.
Bt resistant pests and Roundup tolerant superweeds are on the rise, rendering the two major GM crop traits useless as well. The evolution of Bt resistant bollworms worldwide have now been confirmed and documented.
The end result is that farmers are left with all of the downsides and none of the intended benefits.
So, while drought may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for some farmers in India, it’s the globalization model of agriculture promoted by companies like Monsanto and Cargill that is the underlying cause of the problem.
In the video above, renowned physicist and anti-globalization activist Vandana Shiva describes how farmers are essentially tricked into a corner they cannot get out of. In a 2006 interview with Democracy Now! she said:
“A few weeks ago, I was in Punjab. 2,800 widows of farmer suicides who have lost their land, are having to bring up children as landless workers on others’ land. And yet, the system does not respond to it, because there’s only one response: get Monsanto out of the seed sector–they are part of this genocide — and ensure WTO rules are not bringing down the prices of agricultural produce in the United States, in Canada, in India, and allow trade to be honest.
I don’t think we need to talk about free trade and fair trade. We need to talk about honest trade. Today’s trade system, especially in agriculture, is dishonest, and dishonesty has become a war against farmers. It’s become a genocide.”
This latest round of mass suicides in India should be a wake-up call to us all — that the industrial agriculture model is literally killing the farmers of our world.
I see it as a call to become more vigilant than ever, and speak out against corporations that exploit farmers and the earth for their own selfish and greedy goals. If we don’t, they will succeed – whether intentionally or unintentionally – to create unspeakable suffering for our children, grandchildren and future generations.
Vigilance Requires Paying Attention to Details
Since the 1980s, Monsanto has become the world leader in genetic modification of seeds and has won 674 biotechnology patents, more than any other company. What does this mean for you and your family’s health? Well, many of you probably don’t realize just how ubiquitous GM foods now are.
We’re not just talking about cotton to be used for clothing and other products here; we’re talking about some of the most commonly consumed foods on the market.
Farmers of GM fruits and vegetables across the world have not started committing suicide yet due to failed crops, but the prevalence of these foods are a massive, potentially genocidal, experiment – and you and your children are the guinea pigs.
Did you know that genetically modified foods are so prevalent in the United States that if you randomly pick an item off your grocery store’s shelves, you have a 75 percent chance of picking a food with GM ingredients?
It’s true. At least seven out of every 10 food items have been genetically modified!
The potential health ramifications of these world-wide experiments with our food supply are frightening to say the least. If you care about the health and future of your family, I strongly urge you to pay attention to the details, and refuse the destructive shenanigans of companies like Monsanto by buying only non-GM foods.
The True Food Shopping Guide is a great tool for helping you determine which brands and products contain GM ingredients. It lists 20 different food categories that include everything from baby food to chocolate.
Additionally, here are four simple steps to decrease your consumption of GM foods as much as possible:
Reduce or eliminate processed foods in your diet. The fact that 75 percent of processed foods contain GM ingredients is only one of the many reasons to stick to a whole foods diet.
Read produce and food labels. Conventionally raised soybeans and corn make up the largest portion of genetically modified crops. Ingredients made from these foods include high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), corn flour and meal, dextrin, starch, soy sauce, margarine, and tofu.
Buy organic produce. By definition, food that is certified organic must be free from all GM organisms, produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers and from an animal reared without the routine use of antibiotics, growth promoters or other drugs. Additionally, grass-fed beef will not have been fed GM corn feed.
Look at produce stickers. The PLU code on stickers for conventionally grown fruit consists of four numbers, organically grown fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number nine, and GM fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number eight.
Organic India Making a Dent
Last November I visited thousands of these Indian farmers. These farmers had escaped the clutches of Monsanto, thanks to the efforts of Organic India that taught them how to grow crops organically.
Organic India has helped over 150,000 farmers change back to time-honored methods that are producing high quality plants and herbs. They have also constructed a number of hospitals and clinics to serve these farmers, and have helped tremendously to restore their dignity.
Information is Power
To further guide you in understanding the problems associated with GM foods, I strongly recommend reading the incredible series Seeds of Doubt, written by staffers at the Sacramento Bee.
And, last but not least, I urge everyone to watch the video The Future of Food. Forward the link to this video widely among your friends, family and acquaintances. This in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind genetically modified foods is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. It will help you understand how and why the genetic engineering we allow to be unleashed today is a very real threat to ALL future generations.
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11.05.08
Posted in AGRICULTURE COUNCIL, NEWS FROM INDIA, Scientific Council at 11:09 am by YUDHISTRA
http://epaper.asianage.com/Asian/AAge/2008/11/05/index.shtml
OPPOSITION TO THE cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops is growing in Orissa. Social organisations and farmer leaders have stepped up their protest against the state government’s move to encourage large-scale farming of these crops. The protesting organizations and leaders have been visiting premier educational institutes, including leading universities of the state, and sensitising the students about the “dangers” and “risks” involved in Bt Cotton and Bt Brinjaj cultivation. “Despite the state government’s official declaration not to encourage GM crops, Bt Cotton has been extensively cultivated in Orissa. Cotton is not a food crop, yet the toxicity of this genetically modified (GM) crop has been so severe that thousands of domestic animals and cattle have died from grazing in cotton fields in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh. The persons handling the crop have come down with severe allergies,” says Debjeet Sarangi, secretary of Living Farms, a Bhubaneswar based social organisation.
The state government is ready to conduct field trials of Bt brinjal next month, a food crop. Commercial roduction of the crop will be allowed next year. Quoting research works, Mr Sarangi informs that experiments on rats have shown that consumption of GM food can have very serious effects like damage to the immune system, organ defects and interference with digestive enzymes, fertility, stunted growth, stomach lesions and ulcers and damage to the intestinal wall.
“Clearly this is highly unethical large-scale experimentation on human beings. The government must not allow GM seeds in the state,” he observes. During a week-long campaign titled “I Am No Lab Rat” from October 16 to 22, Living Farms, farmers and eminent public figures visited Utkal University in Bhubaneswar and a host of other educational institutes across the city with a well decorated vehicle that carried hoardings and posters depicting ill-effects of the GM seeds. The response to the campaign against genetically modified food and crops was according to the perception of the students on the issue.. For many of them, it was a completely new concept.
Some said they had heard about Bt Cotton and its adverse impact but were unaware that the same technology was being adopted for food crops as well. The students enquired in detail about the process of genetic modification. They were horrified when they were told by the campaigners that genetic alterations were being made in everyday food like brinjal, okra,cabbage, cowpeas, papaya and rice. “Till now we knew about the dangers of junk food, a habit we indulge in occasionally, but now if our daily food is tampered with and made toxic what are we going to eat? Pesticide has shown its dark side. We had hoped the government would think of naturally grown organic food as the alternative. Why are they doing this to us?” questioned the students.
Students of botany and zoology said they were already aware of the dangers of genetic modification and maintained that GM seeds cultivation was highly unethical and had an effect on the overall environment besides the known health hazards. They were surprised to know that such crop also had adverse effects on soil health.
Through the campaign, the organisers collected thousands of signatures on a petition that was sent to the Union health minister seeking a ban on GM foods. “We would request you to kindly gauge the seriousness of the situation and respond as a concerned citizen to make the campaign a success and thwart the devious designs of a few powerful industries,” the petition said. Prior to the recent campaign, the farmer leaders had sent petitions to the Prime Minister, agriculture minister and Union forest and environment minister urging them to protect and conserve biodiversity, environment and health, with due consideration to ethical,
social and cultural issues involved with the application of modern biotechnology.
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09.12.08
Posted in AGRICULTURE COUNCIL, NEWS FROM INDIA, Scientific Council, THE SANGAM FOUNDATION at 12:21 pm by YUDHISTRA
In this interview, leading scientist Dr P M Bhargava, who first coined the term ‘genetic engineering’ in a syndicated article in 1973, warns against genetically modified (GM) foods being pushed into the Indian market without appropriate safety assessment to ensure that they do not increase health risks.
Thirty-two genetically engineered crops are presently being researched across 111 government and 50 private institutes, and already 14 have entered the trial stage. Dr Bhargava says we may be flooded with GM foods with unknown health risks unless the government ensures otherwise.
Dr Bhargava is a scientist, writer, thinker and institution- builder. He is the founder-director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, and former vice-chairman of the National Knowledge Commission. He is currently a member of the National Security Advisory Board, and has chaired several NGOs, professional organisations and pharmaceutical companies.
Widely regarded as the architect of modern biology and biotechnology in India, he has authored over 125 major scientific publications and over 400 other articles on a variety of subjects in some of the best-known publications around the world. He has written four books, including a 500-page monograph on ‘Proteins of Seminal Plasma’ published by John Wiley, New York, a national integrated science textbook for 11-12-year-olds; and the highly acclaimed ‘The Saga of Indian Science Since Independence: In a Nutshell’ (Universities Press, 2003). He has won several awards including the Padma Bhushan.
You have consistently warned about scientific norms being flouted in order to push GM foods into the market.
A very dangerous precedent has been set in the country whereby GM foods like Doritos corn chips are being sold off the shelf against the law, and Bt cotton is being cultivated without a comprehensive risk assessment having been conducted on its effects — for example on the soil and the surrounding fauna. The most disturbing aspect of this trend is that the tests being done on toxicity are being conducted by the applicant company itself or on samples supplied by it.. Will any applicant for permission to release a genetically modified organism (GMO) say its GMO is not safe? Monsanto is the world’s largest seed supplier, and has a vested interest.
Why is this being done?
For profit and, I dare say, nothing else. Western multinational companies (MNCs) want to make as much money as they can by exploiting people’s ignorance. The fact of the matter is that we do not need Bt cotton or GM food. Globally, no major advantage is being conferred by these foods and the damage and harm they may cause has still to be properly assessed. In the US, GM food does not require to be labelled, so it is being mixed with other foods. One of the reasons for the rising health bill in the US could well be GM foods.
So MNCs are continuing with their monopolistic hegemony by selling GM seeds in third world countries?
Yes.. A good part of the first world, including almost all the European countries, has imposed a ban on them. Switzerland, to cite an example, has put a moratorium on release of GMOs till 2012. Most countries across the world have banned GMOs.
The problem is that no one knows what effect these foods will have on us. In animals, we have a good idea about their possible ill-effects. In science, we collect evidence on the basis of which we make predictions. All our predictions so far are not in favour of GM foods unless they are tested extensively and exhaustively, which they are not today. Experts are crying themselves hoarse; it is for the Indian government to listen.
If all our politicians and scientists were committed to their country, not a single GM product would have been permitted in India as of today.
What harm would occur if Bt crops are grown in India?
The government and scientific bodies have ignored several reports on the failure of Bt cotton in terms of yield, and how it has adversely impacted lakhs of farmers, for example in Vidarbha, who are now shifting from cotton to soyabean.
Bt cotton seeds were supposed to increase yields. This has happened in some cases, but not in many others where yields have decreased and the cost of production gone up. The Bt seeds are also more expensive than normal seeds. The cost of Bt seed started with Rs 1,650 (per standard packet) as opposed to the cost of normal seed which is Rs 450.
The government needs to pay much more attention to the death of over 1,000 cattle that foraged on remnants of Bt cotton plants in some districts of Andhra Pradesh over the last few years.
Monsanto-Mahyco’ s new studies have highlighted a gene flow of up to 15-20 metres (that is, the Bt gene can affect non-Bt plants that are 10-20 metres away) in the case of Bt brinjal, and 10 metres for Bt cotton. For the majority of India’s farmers, with holdings of less than two hectares of land, a 10-metre gene flow would render a third of their holdings unviable. That is a huge loss.
Why are so many institutes being allowed to conduct field trials?
The supervisory agencies have turned a blind eye to what is going on. In West Bengal, trials of Bt okra, which started in mid-August 2007, were done on the basis of approval by the panchayat. My question here is: what knowledge do panchayats have about genetically modified organisms and GM foods, especially since they are susceptible to all kinds of pressures? The State Biotechnology Coordination Committee and the District Level Committee have not approved these trials. West Bengal’s agriculture university monitoring the trials has also given a damning report about the trials.
I have also highlighted before various government agencies the fact that several of the tests that are claimed to have been conducted may never have been done. This is because Monsanto-Mahyco itself is conducting the tests for its own products that it wants approved. The result may have been very different if an independent professional organisation had conducted the tests – for example, the toxicity tests.
Take, for example, the study on the heat stability of the highly toxic protein in Bt brinjal which is genetically engineered to contain this insecticidal protein to help the brinjal plant escape attack by certain pests. The conclusion of this study is supposed to be that while uncooked Bt brinjal scores positive for the Bt protein, cooked Bt brinjal scores negative. This statement has no meaning as no values are given and no indication is given of the sensitivity of the method used. Thus, if the sensitivity was low, then it is possible that, on cooking, as much as say 25% of the active protein may have been left, which could be toxic.
Many tests on GM foods and crops in our country today are taking place in non-accredited laboratories that may not have the proven expertise and facilities in the area to test these food and other GM items.
You have expressed other reservations too about these tests.
Yes, to recap some of the issues, the West has done a lot of studies on gene flow. On May 16, 2008, a 147-nation conference in Bonn concluded that GMOs were responsible for damage to other plants. Understandably, the US was not a party to this conclusion.
The recent IAASD (International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development) report makes the point that GM foods are not the solution to the looming agricultural crisis. A review of this report in the journal Science emphasises that a redirection of science and technology is needed to move away from processes that have profited primarily large-scale enterprises, to processes that address the most basic needs of the world’s 900 million small farmers. This was partly a reference to GM crops.
Reported cases of Bt allergy in north India have not been investigated. We have also not investigated in sufficient detail the impact of GM crops on soil ecology.
There have been recent studies that show that dietary DNA can find its way into blood. This opens up the possibility that GMO DNA could change the characteristics of cells of the body. Such a transformation could have a major deleterious effect on the host. A recent UN study also states, and I am quoting, that “India faces a high safety risk because safety norms on genetically modified crops are not being enforced”.
There seems to be quite a lot of evidence against GM foods.
I would say that as of today we do not have reasonably conclusive evidence that GM foods are safe. We should therefore exercise the precautionary principle and ban their use unless incontrovertible evidence regarding their long-term safety is obtained, which would take 10 to 25 years. It is a pity that alternatives to GM crops such as integrated pest management and the use of bio-pesticides, which are cheaper and better, and organic agriculture, are being ignored by our government in spite of the enormous evidence in their favour.
Two other examples of Bt technology which has proved harmful to insects and animals may be highlighted. Transgenic Research magazine (December 2007, Vol 76, p 795 onwards) reports that Bt Cry 3A protein has a deleterious effect on beneficial, non-target beetles. An example of a dramatic metabolic change following genetic engineering would be the recently reported incidence of extraneous melanoma (a cancer) in genetically modified animals (Pigment Cell Research, December 2007, Vol 20(6), p 485 onwards).
I have suggested that the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) should seriously consider calling a meeting to objectively review all our experiences with Bt cotton and information that has been obtained over the years on GM crops, including Bt cotton. This review should involve technical members of the GEAC and RCGM (Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation) , a small number of carefully selected experts whose knowledge and objectivity have never been in doubt and who have no vested interests, a small number of reliable and responsible NGOs, and a few representatives from industry. It is to the credit of GEAC that it has agreed to organise such a meeting.
Why has government not taken note of all that I have said above? The answer probably lies in the fact that (a) our country appears nearly at the bottom in the list of corrupt countries, and (b) Remember that Monsanto produced Agent Orange in the US-Vietnam war (which the US lost) to defoliate thousand of square kilometres of Vietnam which I myself saw in 1982 in Vietnam. The combination of (a) and (b) above could be very profitable for people in the government and Monsanto, but a disaster for the billion people of India, 78% of whom live on less than Rs 20 per day and are virtually voiceless. Who cares about them? I do, but does that matter? So some NGOs and concerned individuals have rightly taken the matter to court. I hope the courts will follow a more balanced approach than our government has. Genetic engineering is a marvellous technology. Let us not use it to make biological time-bombs.
http://infochangein dia.org/20080707 7208/Agriculture /Features/ Genetically- modified- crops-The- risk-factor. html
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