GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

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joshvajohn
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by joshvajohn »

GM food technology gets Montek Singh’s endorsement
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/repor ... nt_1417170

Montek's mind does not work because India has enough food production. He should be thinking how to convert food production, supply and maintainance and distribution into a profitable industry rather than destroy it by allowing GM technology without enough tests in Indian contexts and so on.
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by sumishi »

Bad days ahead! :(

The cabinet clears the biotech bill which could lead to the backdoor entry for GM crops (TOI, Wed. Aug 18, 2010).
As if the poisoning of the population through lax pollution norms, industrial effluents in the water supply & groundwater and accumulation of pesticides inside edible plants was not good enough, now we will have a government mandated legal poisoning of our entire ecosystem by the multinational corps and their stooges here in Bharat.

But, oh no.., all these GMOs are safe, proclaim the corporation owned compromised scientists to the media while sneakily sweeping dead lab rats under the carpet. :roll:

What's with these "think tanks?" Are they plain ignorant, or in cahoots? :evil:
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by joshvajohn »

BRAI Bill a huge step forward: Ramesh
http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... /105684/on


For food security, GM crops not the only route: Jairam
http://www.hindustantimes.com/For-food- ... 89198.aspx


Is this BRAI bill good?
The following are comments from Greenpeaceindia
Soon all of us will be eating genetically contaminated food. The Cabinet has just approved the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) bill which will allow genetically modified food into the country. The bill can be tabled in the Parliament anytime.

The BRAI will be a body of technocrats whose decisions will remain unquestioned. Our state governments and people like us will not be able to question this body. This needs a public discussion i suppose.

These comments are from GreenpeaceIndia. I am not sure about these comments. But will be happy to know more about BRAI Bill.
http://greenpeace.in/safefood/faq/
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by Jarita »

This is such bad news. Back door entry after the public reaction to BT. Brinjal. It has become a people vs. politicians thing in India

http://ccsrindia.blogspot.com/2010/08/b ... -food.html


Thursday, August 19, 2010
Biotech bill unlocks doors to GM food into country
Jayashree Nandi | TNN
Bangalore: India may have just about opened its doors to genetically modified food. The Union cabinet on Monday cleared the controversial Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill which scientists call a backdoor entry for GM crops into India.
“I was apprised about the bill being passed on Monday but I don’t know whether it has been passed in its last draconian form that whoever misleads the public about the safety of GM organisms and products shall be punished with imprisonment and fine. Such clauses were not seen even in the worst times of the Soviet Union. Even if it has been modified, this is nothing but a backdoor entry for GM food into the country. It is also a means to sell our seed industry to huge multinational companies,” molecular biologist and biotechnology expert P M Bhargava told TOI.
This body will replace the current Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) and will focus on regulating research, manufacture, import and use of products of modern biotechnology, including GM products. Critics of introduction of GM products were opposed to this bill because it would curtail their freedom to talk or discuss against GM seeds or foods.
Chairman and managing director of Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, told TOI that she did not have much information about the bill because it was focusing on genetically modified products in agriculture and not in the pharmaceutical space.
Bhargava and the sustainable agriculture campaigners of Greenpeace India have raised concerns about the non-consultative process adopted to draft the bill. “We want all political parties to demand a withdrawal of the cabinet approval of the BRAI Bill 2010. We also demand a redrafting of the contents post consultations with public as well as all state governments,” Greenpeace Sustainable Agriculture campaigner Rajesh Krishnan said.
G V Ramanjaneyulu, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Hyderabad, said two clauses from the bill were dropped but no one knows which clauses. “Our fear is that this body will act as a single window clearance for GM crops. The state will not have any power to resist introduction of GMOs. This, coupled with the Seed Bill 2010, is a disaster recipe for farmers,” he said.
In February, following a huge outcry from scientists, environmentalists and farmers, environment minister Jairam Ramesh announced a moratorium on the release of the genetically modified Bt-brinjal after several public consultations across the country. He had said his decision was based on a “cautious precautionary principle-based approach.”
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by joshvajohn »

Minister objects to Biotechnology Bill
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/ker ... 600077.ece
Terming the provisions of the Bill as draconian, he said that the even representatives of the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment and Forests were not proposed to be included in the Authority. Besides, the Bill sought to curtail freedom of expression and punish anyone who records any view against introduction of any genetically modified crop or food. Even peaceful demonstration against introduction of genetically modified crops could attract imprisonment and fine.

BRAI Bill will override State regulations, leaving States with an advisory role
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article586553.ece

Greenpeace seeks Sonia's intervention for redrafting bill
http://sify.com/news/greenpeace-seeks-s ... jabib.html

NGO urges Orissa to write centre to reject BRAI Bill
http://www.orissadiary.com/Shownews.asp?id=20655
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by Jarita »

ALMOST ALL the heroin comes from Punjab’s border with Pakistan. It is a fascinating process. There is a border fence on the Indian side, about a kilometre and a half from the villages, which cuts through farms owned by Indians. This means that portions of Indian farms are across the border, up to 500 metres into Pakistan. After this is zero point, from where the Pakistani side begins. The BSF, which mans the fenced border, issues permits to Indian farmers and their labourers to cross over and work on their farmlands on the other side. This is allowed from 10 am to 4 pm Curfew begins at 6 p.m. This means no one is allowed near the fence after that. There are BSF posts every 500 metres. The guards have powerful binoculars with night vision. They also carry INSAS rifles. The fence is electrified at 6 pm every day. The lights also come on, so powerful that the whole place is dazzling. You can see an ant crawl in the blazing lights. Theoretically, it should be impossible for anything to be dumped over.
Yield is also dropping. In 2000-2001, 45 quintals of wheat was produced per hectare. In 2005-2006, this was down to 40 quintals. It could drop further this year. Then, there’s the urge to feel good. Some estimates say Punjab has 12 lakh tubewells, where six lakh are enough. Most of them use high power pumps, which keep drawing water from the ground. There’s such a huge wastage of water and electricity in Punjab that the government is being forced to consider curbs on the use of tubewells and free power to farmers. In many farms, the water pumped out is used to bathe livestock. On top of this, is the mania for tractors. There are nearly four lakh tractors in Punjab, almost five times the required number. Many small farmers buy expensive tractors on loans and are then unable to clear the debt. In this year’s kisan mela at the PAU, farmers converged on brand new machines worth 16 lakh though none of them probably needed them. There’s only 1,000 hours of work for a tractor in a year in Punjab. This, experts say, can easily be done by renting tractors instead of buying them
[
b]Such is the amount of pesticide in the groundwater that it is believed to be the principal cause of cancer in the Bhatinda belt. Hundreds of cases of cancer occur here, including even Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s wife, who has just returned after treatment from the US. While Badal’s wife is able to get decent treatment, the rest of the villagers catch the Jammu Tawi Express between Jammu and Jaipur, which leaves Bhatinda at 9.30 pm every day. So many people take this train for cancer treatment in Bikaner that the train is called the ‘Cancer Train’ in Punjab. Every village in the Bhatinda belt has scores of cancer patients, in some cases several in a family. Cancer deaths are common too[/b]
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main47.asp ... _story.asp
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by Carl_T »

I've been looking through this thread. Any information on clinical tests that show GMO food is harmful?

I don't think the government should be promoting any particular seeds. Rather I wish they'd run a few tests on this to make the information public.
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by sampat »

Pesticides in ground water is very big threat. But how are we going to fix this? No one seems to care and people are happily drinking pesticide cola. I have even stopped defending India on this front. Earlier i used to say that we need to find the right supplier but after 9/10 shipments getting rejected at customs we decided to get everything from Thailand.

and instead of working towards removing pesticide, suppliers provide excuses like sir, pesticide is in water and our products have no problems in UK and USA. i wonder what will happen when queen and uncle tightens the leash.
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by Jarita »

Ramesh trashes academies’ report on Bt brinjal

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blnus/07271906.htm
“Even the most aggressive anti-NGO state in India, Gujarat, did not want Bt brinjal,” he added, making it clear that unless there is consensus on the issue in the society and states agree for its release, the moratorium on GM food will continue.”
http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.com/201 ... rt-on.html
The Inter-Academy report therefore is not a scientific inquiry, but a cheap public relation exercise on behalf of the GM industry. This is a scientific form of corruption, and has to be condemned in as strong words
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by joshvajohn »

People should keep things clear in their mind. Superbug was given name as if it originated in New Delhi - even it carried out the name with New Delhi. So the high resitant bugs that can resist any pesticide may also be introduced in India as a part of the package to destory our agri. If people like Sarad Pawar is paid a few hundred crores these are done.

When Indians talk about Siddha medicine (which I strongly support as natural medicine) and also about Auryvedic many countries wanted to test widely before its use. While such tests carried out these formulae are converted into another typical medicine and then are sold. I think that should be same case with any BT in the sense that it should be tested for any problems through out the country with different set of weather then if this is successful then allow it. It will take a considerable time then one has to wait for it to be tested in labs in different parts of the world. Even the cross polination with natural plants and also with pests resitance and so on should be clearly tested in different parts of the country independently wihtout any funds from GM companies.

India should consider go downs for protecting vegetables and other food material rather than trying for these BT vegs and BT productions. There should be a clearly sceintific and neutral approach to the whole issue.

Experts alert on GM brinjal
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100925/j ... 980115.jsp
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by Jarita »

This Jairam Ramesh is really suspect. He went and opposed the ban against Endosulfan even though many state governments in India have banned it due to the devastating effects on people

http://www.hindu.com/2010/10/20/stories ... 580100.htm

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Forest Minister Benoy Viswom has criticised the stand taken by India against global ban on Endosulfan at the sixth meeting of Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee to the Stockholm Convention at Geneva last week.

“India's stand was not right. The general consensus at the meeting was in favour of the ban. India should have supported that view,” the Minister told The Hindu on Monday.

Mr. Viswom said that the Indian government should not have become the ‘spokesman' of the pesticides lobby at the meeting. “If you go to Kasaragod, you can see the effect of Endosulfan on the people. Many of the affected were in such a condition that they could be described as the living dead.”
He added that when corporate companies were marketing Endosulfan for profit at the cost of lives, the Central government should have stood by the people of the country. “It is high time that the Centre accepts the truth (about Endosulfan) and stands for the welfare and future prosperity of the country.”
It may be recalled that only India had opposed the proposal for ban on Endosulfan at the committee meeting attended by 29 member countries. With four countries abstaining, the committee recommended ban on manufacture, use, import and export of Endosulfan with certain exemptions to the Conference of Parties of the Stockholm Convention. India dropped out of the discussions towards the end and did not participate in voting. This is also officially recorded as an abstention.

Mr. Viswom had earlier written to Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh urging him that India should take a stand in favour of the ban at the meeting.

He recalled that the chemical, used indiscriminately in the cashew plantations in Kasaragod district for years, had caused serious and chronic illnesses, which forced the Kerala High Court to intervene in the matter in 2002, leading to imposition of a ban in Kerala.

Some snapshots of the effects of Endosulfan

http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archi ... _dead.html
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by Rahul Mehta »

BT-food will never come into India. But Ministers etc will keep trying it and let activists succeed in blocking it. Why? Because this keeps activists busy with BT-food issue and thus activists will get less time to work against corruption in other depts of Govt, and activists can feel good about themselves and feel successful. And this will also ensure that activists will continue to have faith in the NGO leaders they are working with, and thus will keep activists in fold.
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by sourab_c »

Carl_T wrote:I've been looking through this thread. Any information on clinical tests that show GMO food is harmful?

I don't think the government should be promoting any particular seeds. Rather I wish they'd run a few tests on this to make the information public.

It is incredibly hard to prove the effects of GMO crops in a clinical intervention trial as a lot of the effects are long term (especially for edible crops). Mostly, double blind cohort studies have been conducted to see if any undesirable phenotypes develop in individuals.

While I disagree with the general anti-GMO premise adopted by many members in this thread, I believe that genes interact in very complex ways and full research must be conducted regarding a gene before it is transformed into a new plant.However, this is a highly idealistic preposition and I think the reason for the lack of that research is the looming world food crisis. The earth is way past its carrying capacity and it is believed that we already need 1.6-2.2 planets to sustain our current population and hence, scientists are cutting corners if you will to meet the high demand.
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by sumishi »

joshvajohn wrote:Why we need GM labelling
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editori ... 838323.ece
Bad news from the other side of the world:
1. FDA rules won't require labeling of genetically modified salmon
2. FDA will Ban Food Makers from Telling the Truth about Non-GMO Foods
This can be used by the government officials, blind (or compromised) as they are, as an argument for NOT ENFORCING mandatory labeling here.

For those talking about results of independent tests, here's why its difficult to obtain:
GMO Scandal: The Long Term Effects of Genetically Modified Food on Humans -- Scientific Tests Must Be Approved by Industry First by F. William Engdahl

Here's the editorial of Scientific American being referred to in the article above:
A Seedy Practice [pdf File]
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by joshvajohn »

Pawar favours introducing GM crops in India
http://sify.com/finance/pawar-favours-i ... igbcg.html


Why is Pawar so pro-GM?
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1 ... -so-pro-gm

I am not anti-GM person but this has to be tested for our weather and various agricontexts. The GM products should be labelled or at least provide information about the GM food. If water supply is less, it is essential to address this first.


No say for Health Min on GM food
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/No-sa ... ood/718379

Genetically Modified Potatoes: Scientists Unleash New Monster
http://www.naturalnews.com/030411_GM_po ... upply.html

Draft Bill to set up Biotechnology Authority ready, LS told
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 900924.cms

Indian Government should also think about developing a law to curb lobbying of international companies and monitary interests of a few ministers in taking decisions in favour of their supporting companies so that their own interest does not influence their decisions. In such decisions there should be transparency and fairness in dealing with companies rather than some financial support or company's favour is given to some MPs or minister for raising some questions or speaking in favour of promoting a particular company or companies. This is very true in the case of GM food and ministers like Sharad Pawar. Though thousands of farmers from Maharastra committed suicide he still promotes GM cotton and GM food without taking other colleagues' advices seriously or even not taking the criticism of public and so there may be something more into this transactions.
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by Raghavendra »

GM chickens that don't spread bird flu http://www.zeenews.com/news680406.html
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by shyam »

Not sure if this was posted before. Max Keiser talks about genetically modified agenda and also says that India is falling for it.

Watch first 8 minutes:
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by joshvajohn »

Scientifically invalid
Author(s): Latha Jishnu
Issue: Jan 31, 2011
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/32901


GM food should be called 'vaccinated'
The row over GM food was reignited after one of Britain’s top agricultural scientists suggested farmers should rename GM crops as “vaccinated” or “inoculated” in a bid to win over the public to the controversial technology.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agricu ... nated.html

Environmentalist warns about GM crops
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/agricu ... 080976.ece



Suicide Rate Climbs Among India's Farmers; High Cost of GM Farming, Debt, Poor Government Policy Blamed

January 5, 2011
http://organicfood.einnews.com/article/ ... icy-blamed
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Post by Raghavendra »

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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by Sandeep_ghosh »

Dear members,

Engineered food is going to be weapon of mass destruction for the 21st century and i dont think many of us are paying attention to it. When i came to United states 3 years ago i barely had any idea of what engineered food was or what were its disadvantages. I was eating at Bk's and mcdonalds ... never cared reading the labels for MSG (and its variants) or buy organic food (whole foods costs a lot more than chain groceries). The worst thing you can do to yourself is have this crap, fast food and junk food laden with MSG, Free glutamine, High fructose corn syrum and dosses and doses of taurine and caffeine.I was also using body building supplements like whey protein L-Arginine/caffiene (NOX)

I was working out twice as much to maintain my physique. I started gaining weight, feeling hungry even if i ate like an hour ago, lethargic and the list goes on and on. I came across this documentary called the beautiful truth.

Main culprits on the food industry are Colas, Chips, Dips, instant foods, instant noodles, candy bars, burgers, KFC chicken stuff, these companies have grown so big in US that no one can take them on and now they are peddling the same dirt in india.

The day since i have been off crap/junk food, i have been in good health and have had a great quality of life. I am not conspiracy theorist and say that all this is engineered to intentionally degrade the middle class of the India. Their hunger for fat profits is going to destroy the traditional crops of India and we need to make a stand against this.

the fervor that we discuss defense issues should be extended to this rampant plague that is destroying young lives all around the world.

- Sandeep
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by joshvajohn »

Women's reservation bill among 66 listed for budget session
http://www.sify.com/news/women-s-reserv ... bigha.html
In this article many bills are highlighted.

In this Budget session govt is bringing BRAI in favour of GM food. BRAI is going to have power over the laws and state govts in their saying against GMO. Govt is smart in bringing laws as if they are protecting. Manmohan singh is very clear in selling people and country to the GM companies. This needs a Egyptian style of protest here in India.


India is planning to replace the rules under the Environment Protection Act with a Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (Brai) Act. This will give genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) fast-track approvals and throw its critics into jail. The recently-appointed minister of science and technology, Ashwini Kumar, has announced that the Government of India is planning to introduce four bills in the upcoming Budget session — Brai Bill, DNA Profiling Bill, Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill and the Public Funded R&D (Protection and Utilisation of Public Funded Intellectual Property) Bill. The Prime Minister’s Office has already written to various state governments suggesting partnerships with corporations in the seed sector. This rush to push genetically-modified and patented seeds ignores evidence that GMOs will not be able to provide food security. Genetically-engineered seeds are patented. Patents allow companies to collect royalties. This increases the price of seed. Patents also force the farmer to buy seed every year. This pushes up the price of seed and traps farmers in debt. Debt has already pushed 2,50,000 Indian farmers to suicide in the last 15 years. Citizens as consumers also pay a very high price. They are forced to eat food with toxic genes. Biodiversity is replaced with uniformity; Taste and quality are replaced with hazards; And freedom to choose is replaced with force feeding.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/dc-comme ... -deals-425

This act can be defeated if Opposition works together with some allies of the govt.
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Post by joshvajohn »

GM food: the arguments we can’t ignore
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/01/ ... nt-ignore/

Indian activists help Filipinos decontaminate Bt brinjal field trial site
http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... te/425666/


Rather than testing and finding a proper independent research and results and then allowing BT Brinjal, the present Government is trying to change the law so that BT can be allowed without any resistance even if it destoys local production and so many people's lives in India.


Environment under attack: Why India will pay dearly
http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-sh ... 110210.htm

Paucity of Bt cotton seeds may hurt India cotton output
http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Pau ... 3-3-1.html
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Post by joshvajohn »

DBT allocates Rs. 300 crore for research on GM crops
Friday, April 22, 2011 08:00 IST
Nandita Vijay, Bangalore
http://www.fnbnews.com/article/detnews. ... ectionid=1

Sharad Pawar Inc.
2G scam, DB Realty: Corruption, controversies haunt Sharad Pawar
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story ... 35999.html
Pawar also presides over the agricultural ministry at a time when genetically modified (GM) crops like cotton are increasingly grown in India, which is among the world's five biggest markets for nonfood agricultural crops. In short, he is laying the foundation to have a say in what will be the country's biggest preoccupation in the coming years- food. And land.
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Post by joshvajohn »

New Delhi
New BT Brinjal panel has conflict of interest: NGOs
http://www.hindustantimes.com/New-BT-Br ... 89168.aspx


MP protests against trials of GM Maize
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... bt-brinjal

New BT Brinjal panel has conflict of interest: NGOs
http://www.hindustantimes.com/BT-Brinja ... 89168.aspx


If India is not awake, She will become testing ground of many of new death tests!
Many of our ministers are bribed to support this and so the committee scientists who are appointed.

Anna Hazare conscience-keeper of nation, says Swaminathan
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a ... 682852.ece

Come on some of these scientists are not fools!

India yet to decide on Bt Brinjal
http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Ind ... 8-3-1.html

Panel on Bt brinjal debates partial release
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... ed-release

GEAC member quits over conflict of interest
http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... st/430996/


When the whole world bans it why India only wants it?



David Schubert on Bt brinjal

Wednesday, 27 January 2010 23:28

Attention: open in a new window. PDFPrintE-mail
SALK INSTITUTE
FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES
David Schubert, Professor
Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory CNB-S

November 18, 2009 

Mr Jairam Ramesh

Hon'ble Minister of Environment and Forests Government of India
425 Paryavaran Bhavan CGO Complex, Lodhi Road New Delhi 110003, India

Dear Mr. Jayaram Ramesh:



My name is Dr. David Schubert. I have a PhD in immunology and am a professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California. The Salk Institute is considered one of the best medical research institutes in the world. I am writing this text because of my concern about the introduction of brinjal genetically modified with bacterial Bt toxin into the food supply of India. There are several reasons that the introduction of this genetically engineered (GE) food plant should not be allowed. They include:

1) The lack of need. Brinjal is not a crop threatened by an overwhelming insect infestation.
2) Environmental risk. Brinjal is native to India and the GE genes will unquestionably contaminate the native population.
3) Higher costs. The purchase of seeds on an annual basis as opposed to saving seed from year to year will increase costs at all levels of the food chain.
4) Social and political dependence. Once a foreign company controls the seed market of any single food plant, seed for more GE plants will follow, and the company will have tremendous power over both the farmers, which constitute a major segment of the Indian population, as well as the political process. This has clearly happened in the United States (US), where Monsanto is a major financial supporter of both political parties, and therefore has political appointees who dictate both national and international agricultural policy.
5) Finally, GE brinjal expressing Bt protein poses a serious health risk to those who consume it. This is the issue that I wish to address. First, however, I would like to debunk some myths that are used by the proponents of GE brinjal to claim that it is safe.

Bt cotton (I will use the term Bt throughout to mean a family of Cry 1 insecticidal endotoxins produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis) is grown in India, and it is claimed that there have been no serious human health problems due to its cultivation. This statement is irrelevant since cotton is not consumed by people, but as you must be aware there is very good evidence that the consumption of Bt cotton plants by farm animals leads to serious health problems and sometimes death. Bt maize is grown in the US and it is claimed that because there has been no documented Bt maize-associated disease, Bt brinjal is therefore safe to eat. This conclusion is invalid for several reasons.

First, only a small fraction of the Bt maize produced in the US is eaten directly. The vast majority in used as animal food and to make oil, high fructose syrup, and ethanol, none of which would contain the Bt protein. The maize containing the Bt protein that is consumed is largely in the form of highly processed corn chips and related snack foods that are not major components of the diet. In contrast, the Bt protein in brinjal will be directly consumed in massive quantities because the vegetable is a significant component of the Indian diet. In addition, it will be prepared in an infinite number of ways, leading to potential chemical changes in the protein causing unknown toxicology and immunogenicity. Cooking can readily change the structure and antigenicity of a protein. Did the feeding studies done with Bt brinjal include cooked product?

Second, it is logically false to claim that because there is no evidence of illness following the introduction of a GE product, therefore the product is safe to eat. In fact, perhaps my major concern with the introduction of any GE food is that even if it did cause an illness, it would not be detected because of the lack of epidemiological studies and the technical limitations for detecting such an illness. For example, to detect an epidemic of a disease, an incidence of at least of two fold above the background rate of the disease is required. Therefore, if Bt brinjal were to cause a disease like Parkinson's, which has an incidence of about 20 new cases per year per 100,000 people, then in India 200,000 new cases per year would have to be diagnosed and tabulated in order to identify a significant increase, and there would still be no way to associate the disease directly with a Bt crop. In addition, many environmentally caused diseases take many decades of exposure to develop symptoms. Clearly, once Bt brinjal is commercially released, there will be no way to monitor adverse health effects caused by the product.There are at least four mechanisms by which the introduction of the Bt toxin gene into the Brinjal genome can cause harm. These include (1) the random insertion of the Bt gene into the plant DNA and the resulting unintended consequences1, (2) alterations in crop metabolism by the Bt protein that results in new, equally unintended and potentially toxic products, (3) the direct toxicity of the Bt protein, and (4) an immune response elicited by the Bt protein. There are scientifically documented examples of all four toxic mechanisms for Bt crops.

An example of the first is the discovery of unintended alterations in the synthesis of nine known carcinogens caused by the GE modification of tobacco, a crop in the same plant family as brinjal2. An example of the second is the abnormally high levels of the fiber molecule lignin produced in Bt maize3. This trait was discovered because of dramatic changes in the stiffness of the corn stalk. Since multiple strains of Bt maize have this trait, it is most likely that increased lignin production is associated with the expression of the Bt protein itself, not due to mutations caused by the GE process itself (item one above)4. Importantly, the synthetic route to lignin in plants is shared with that of rotenone, a plant metabolite known to cause Parkinson's-like disease in animals. It is very likely that there are many other unintentional changes in Bt crops, and a few more have recently been documented5.

The toxicity and immunological hazards of the Bt protein are discussed in more detail below. It should be emphasized that the majority of this material has been published in peer-reviewed journals and reproduced in more than one laboratory, therefore ruling out the possibility of an individual investigator's bias.

Allergies are complex responses of the immune system to foreign substances and vary widely between individuals in an unpredictable manner. Bt toxins have long been used as insecticidal sprays on a variety of crops, but the spray is a less toxic form of the protein than that made by GE plants. The spray consists of spores of the Bt toxin that must be activated in the gut of the insect. In contrast, Bt toxin in brinjal is a highly activated form of the Bt protein that does not require modification in the insect gut to become toxic. It is therefore much more potent than that used is sprays. Despite this major difference in Bt form and activity, and even though the spray is not ingested by farm workers, there is solid evidence that the Bt proteins elicit a strong immune response in some workers after a few months exposure, and it is likely that many more workers are affected, but associate their allergic response with the spray and decide to work elsewhere6. Since Bt proteins have amino acid sequence homology with known allergens, allergic reactions in some individuals are not unexpected ' . Most importantly, it should be emphasized that the concentration and amount of Bt toxin protein that people will eat in Bt brinjal will be thousands of times higher than the exposure levels of farm workers.

In support of the human data, when animals are exposed to Bt toxins, the toxin also acts as a potent immunogen, eliciting responses from both the blood and gut-based immune systems9'11. Based upon these data, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended extensive safety testing of Bt crops for this trait12, but due to the lack of required safety testing for GE food crops in the US, this was never done4. Although I am sure that you are aware of this fact, it should be restated that the US agencies that allowed the introduction of Bt food crops did not require any demonstration that the GE food was safe for human consumption.

Additional animal studies have shown that Bt toxins directly cause tissue damage. For example, Fares and El-Sayed demonstrated that feeding mice Bt potatoes caused the appearance of structurally abnormal cells in the gut13. Other studies reported histopathological changes in the kidney and liver of rats feed Bt corn14, and changes in urea and protein levels in the urine of rats fed Bt rice15. While there was no extreme pathology in any of these studies, they were all short term (up to 90 days) and done with healthy animals. The outcome may be quite different if the Bt protein is consumed by infirm, under nourished, aged, or very young individuals, for the body responds quite differently in individuals compromised by any of these conditions, and all groups will be eating Bt brinjal. As far as I know none of the safety testing of Bt brinjal has taken this fact into account.

Since a significant fraction of any population falls within one or more of these categories, it is difficult to believe that the regulatory authorities could overlook this problem. To emphasize this point, it has recently been shown that the immune response to feeding very young and very old mice Bt maize is different from that of the non-GE maize fed control groups. Most interestingly, the immune responses were also very different in the young and old age groups16. These very robust data clearly demonstrate how difficult it is to extrapolate negative data from short term feeding studies in healthy adult animals to real world situations. They also further emphasize the need for extreme caution before the irreversible introduction Bt brinjal into the food chain.

The above citations clearly show that the family of Bt proteins can act as allergens in animals and some individuals. Most importantly for the health of the Indian population, if the introduction of Bt brinjal is allowed, an enormous number of individuals are going to consume amounts of Bt toxin that are thousands of times higher than anytime previously in the short history of this GE technology. This population is extremely heterogeneous in genetic makeup, age, and also with respect to underlying health. It is the genetics and health status of the individual that determines his or her response to foreign proteins such as Bt toxin. Less healthy individuals are much more prone to negative immune reactions. Since the ability of Bt toxin to cause an allergic response in some individuals is unambiguous, it is virtually certain that within the vast Indian population a large number of people eating Bt brinjal are going to be or will become allergic to this foreign protein; this number cannot be predicted and some of the immune responses will likely be severe, causing anaphylaxis and possibly fatalities. Since there will be no way of tracking these adverse reactions within the population, and since once Bt brinjal is commercially grown, its genetic presence within a major calorie source for the Indian population is irreversible, a simple decision has to be made. Is the negligible benefit of Bt brinjal worth the clear risk? My conclusion is that it is not worth the risk and that it would be a profound disservice to India if Bt brinjal were allowed to enter her food supply.

David Schubert, Ph.D. Professor
Salk Institute for Biological Studies LaJolla,CA 92037

REFERENCES
1. Schubert D. 2002 A different perspective on GM food. Nat Biotechnol 20:969.
2. Mungur R, Glass AD, Goodenow DB, Lightfoot DA. 2005 Metabolite fingerprinting in transgenic Nicotiana tabacum altered by the Escherichia coli glutamate dehydrogenase gene. J Biomed Biotechnol 2005:198-214.
3. Saxena D, Stotzky G. 2001 Bt corn has a higher lignin content than non-Bt corn. Amer J Botany 88:1704-6.
4. Freese W, Schubert D. 2004 Safety testing of genetically engineered food. Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews 21:299-325.
5. Zolla L, Rinalducci S, Antonioli P, Righetti PG. 2008 Proteomics as a complementary tool for identifying unintended side effects occurring in transgenic maize seeds as a result of genetic modifications. J Proteome Res 7:1850-61.
6. Bernstein IL, Bernstein JA, Miller M, Tierzieva S, Bernstein DI, Lummus Z, Selgrade MK, Doerfler DL, Seligy VL. 1999 Immune responses in farm workers after exposure to Bacillus thuringiensis pesticides. Environ Health Perspect 107:575-82.
7. Metcalfe DD, Astwood JD, Townsend R, Sampson HA, Taylor SL, Fuchs RL. 1996 Assessment of the allergenic potential of foods derived from genetically engineered crop plants. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr36 Suppl:S165-86.
8. FAO-WHO. Evaluation of Allergenicity of genetically modified foods. Report of a Joint FAO/WHO expert consultation on allergenicity of foods derived from biotechnology. January 22-25, 2001. http://www.fao.org/es/ESN/food/pd/allergvgm.pdf. 2001.
9. Vazquez RI, Moreno-Fierros L, Neri-Bazan L, De La Riva GA, Lopez-Revilla R. 1999 Bacillus thuringiensis Cry 1 Ac protoxin is a potent systemic and mucosal adjuvant. Scandianavian Journal of Immunology 49:578-584.
10. Vazquez-Padron RI, Moreno-Fierros L, Neri-Bazan L, de la Riva GA, Lopez-Revilla R. 1999 Intragastric and intraperitoneal administration of Cry 1 Ac protoxin from Bacillus thuringiensis induces systemic and mucosal antibody responses in mice. Life Sci 64:1897-912.
11. Vazquez-Padron RI, Moreno-Fierros L, Neri-Bazan L, Martinez-Gil AF, de-la-Riva GA, Lopez-Revilla R. 2000 Characterization of the mucosal and systemic immune response induced by Cry 1 Ac protein from Bacillus thuringiensis HD 73 in mice. Braz J Med Biol Res 33:147-55.
12. BT S. 2000 Bt plant-pesticides risk and benefit assessments. FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel. SAP Report No. 2000-07. http://www.epa.gov/scipoly/sap/2000/oct ... rfinal.pdf.
13. Fares NH, El-Sayed AK. 1998 Fine structural changes in the ileum of mice fed on delta-endotoxin-treated potatoes and transgenic potatoes. Nat Toxins 6:219-33.
14. Kilic A, Akay MT. 2008 A three generation study with genetically modified Bt corn in rats: Biochemical and histopathological investigation. Food Chem Toxicol 46:1164-70.
15. Schroder M, Poulsen M, Wilcks A, Kroghsbo S, Miller A, Frenzel T, Danier J, Rychlik M, Emami K, Gatehouse A, Shu Q, Engel KH, Altosaar I, Knudsen I. 2007 A 90-day safety study of genetically modified rice expressing Cry 1 Ab protein (Bacillus thuringiensis toxin) in Wistar rats. Food Chem Toxicol 45:339-49.
16. Finamore A, Roselli M, Britti S, Monastra G, Ambra R, Turrini A, Mengheri E. 2008 Intestinal and peripheral immune response to MON810 maize ingestion in weaning and old mice. J Agric Food
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1 ... bt-brinjal
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

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The ignorant/compromised traitors are at it again!! :evil:

BJP government gives short shrift to its own organic policy -- Massive subsidy for Monsanto's hybrid maize seed

The Shivraj Singh Chauhan government recently formed a separate “Agriculture Cabinet” and passed a comprehensive “Organic Policy” to make Madhya Pradesh an organic State, an important priority and poll promise under the Bharatiya Janata Party's Swadeshi ideology.

However, the “pro-organic” noise doesn't seem to be translating into action. Concerns are being raised over the government massively subsidising a seed distribution programme involving the U.S.-based seed giant Monsanto and two other biotech companies.

The hybrid maize expansion project, currently being implemented under public-private partnership in seven tribal districts in the State, is an extension of “Project Sunshine.”

“Project Sunshine” is the name of Monsanto's hybrid maize expansion programme seeking to bring about a “Yellow Revolution” in tribal areas of India and is being implemented under various names in Gujarat, Orissa and Rajasthan, among others.

In Madhya Pradesh, the project provides 90 per cent subsidy for Monsanto's Dekalb hybrid-maize seeds, a move which many fear will lead to the death of the traditional non-hybrid “white maize,” also known as the Open Pollinated Variety (OPV) seeds currently in use reducing farmers' control over their seeds.

“It is a pilot project covering the major tribal districts and it seeks to address the food security problem in these areas,” Agriculture Secretary M. M .Upadhyay told The Hindu.

“I don't understand the concerns some people are raising. :(( Hybrid maize has been used in the State and across the country for decades now and has proved to be highly effective in boosting production,” he said.

Monsanto's Dekalb hybrid maize seeds are being distributed in the State with 50 per cent subsidy from the Rashtiya Krishi Vikas Yojana fund, while the Tribal Welfare Department is subsidising another 40 per cent.

However, pro-organic agriculture activists in the State have recently written to the Chief Minister, asking him to scrap the project, now being implemented in Jhabua, Dhar, Seoni, Chhindwara, Ratlam, Khargone and Alirajpur districts.

“Traditional farming practices in these areas are extremely cost-effective. The farmer uses his own seeds every year, he uses home-made organic manure, employs his family as labour, and the stem and other parts of the crop can be used as cattle feed,” says G.S. Kaushal, former Director, Agriculture Department.

“The high-input hybrid maize will make farmers dependent on the market as they will have to buy new seeds every year along with fertilizers, etc, resulting in increased production cost. And how will they afford that once the subsidy is discontinued?” asks Dr. Kaushal.

The project has also drawn criticism for being at odds with the State's newly announced Organic Policy, which seeks to promote organic agriculture.

“It is hard to understand why the State government is using taxpayers' money to provide ready market for corporations like Monsanto :x even when an organic policy is in place,” says Nilesh Desai of the Madhya Pradesh Beej Swaraj Abhiyan (Seed Sovereignty Campaign).

There have been consistent protests against similar projects in Orissa (Project Golden Days), Gujarat (Project Sunshine) and Rajasthan (Project Golden Rays).

“Farmers in Orissa are beginning to realise the dangers of this yellow maize. This year, local customers in some areas didn't even buy yellow maize and the farmers had to go dry it so it looked more like the smaller, white maize,” says Debjeet Sarang, a pro-organic agriculture activist from Orissa.

“Some areas of Kalahandi district are completely under hybrid maize now. This so-called Yellow Revolution is coming about at the cost of nutritious millets. It's a worrisome trend,” he says.
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

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N Chandra Mohan: Bt brinjal and its discontents
Or why Bt cotton was introduced in the fields while Bt brinjal was embargoed
N Chandra Mohan / June 17, 2011, 0:35 IST
http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... ts/439353/

GM food crops impacting bloodstreams of women and unborn babies: Study
http://www.fnbnews.com/article/detnews. ... ectionid=1

"India is going to be our biggest learning lab" (and also a Killing Lab)
http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/i ... /5075.html
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

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Gujarat's wind power capacity grows 500% in six years
In what can be called as a quantum leap for Gujarat's renewable energy sector, the wind power generation capacities have seen a sharp increase since 2006 from 338 Megawatt (Mw) to 2175.5 Mw in 2011. The share of Gujarat in the country's total wind power generation capacities has jumped from mere 6.32 per cent in 2006 to a respectable 15.36 per cent in 2011.
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Monsanto accused of violating bio-safety rules: The Hindu, 05/07/2011
The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), a farmers' organisation, on Monday joined hands with Greenpeace and sought an immediate ban on all open field experiments of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in the country by Monsanto (a bio-technology company), in the wake of alleged violation of bio-safety norms by the multinational seed firm in Bijapur.

The KRRS' demand comes in the wake of allegations by Greenpeace that Monsanto had flouted the norms of bio-safety, leading to fears of transgene leakage and subsequent contamination.

KRRS president Kodihalli Chandrashekar called upon Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa to take swift action against Monsanto in the light of the alleged contamination caused due to gross violation of rules during field trials. “If the government does not respond positively to our demand, we will be constrained to take direct action against the multinational company,” Mr. Chandrashekar said at a press meet here.

“The company should be nationally blacklisted and thrown out of Karnataka,” he said.

Greepeace India's representative Shivani Shah, who was also present, claimed that Monsanto was caught “red-handed” violating bio-safety rules during field trials of GM corn in a village in Bijapur district's Sindagi taluk. “GM corn cobs with viable seeds have been lying at the field, which was harvested more than a month ago – on June 1, 2011– leading to concerns about the seeds from the plot dispersing to nearby areas. Thus, the rule to destroy all residues after the GM crop has been thrown to the wind,” she said.

Though the guidelines state that the refuge of the GM crops has to be destroyed, it has been left over by the company for the farmer to use as feed for cattle, she alleged.

“Alarmingly, there was neither a fence around the trial plot nor any signboard indicating that the field had untested GM corn in an experimental stage. Further, neither the Deputy Commissioner of Bijapur nor the senior Agriculture Department officials knew about any cultivation of GM crops in the district,” she said.

Convenor of Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) Kavitha Kuruganti said the Bijapur field trials showed the company's “arrogance in defying norms.” Convenor of Coalition for GM Free Karnataka Krishna Prasad criticised the State government for not having a clear stand on GM crops.

Meanwhile, Monsanto has denied the allegations levelled against it.

A company spokesperson said the required permission was obtained from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) for limited seed production of biotech corn. “Plantings took place in January 2011 and this information was proactively shared with State-level, district level and village level authorities.”

The area was fenced and display boards were put up. “The allegation that the residue was not burnt is false. In compliance with the guidelines from the regulatory authorities, we are monitoring the fields post harvest for a period of three months,” the spokesperson said.

Permission for 25 acres for each hybrid were obtained in November 2010 and the agreements with farmers were entered into subsequently before planting in Jan 2011, the spokesperson added.
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Area under Bt cotton expands; NGOs decry government propaganda: The Hindu - July 27, 2011
While the Centre on Monday said the area under Bt cotton is estimated to have expanded to 90 per cent of the total area sown under cotton in 2010-11, several non-government organisations alleged that the government had deliberately promoted the genetically-modified seed as part of a strategy.

According to the latest figures released by the Union Agriculture Ministry, of the 111.42 lakh hectare under cotton cultivation, 98.54 lakh hectare is under Bt cotton, with Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh being the top cotton producers.

Even as the Government maintains that cotton production is up, several NGOs assert that yields are declining and pesticide usage has shot up with the emergence of pest resistance, and newer pests and diseases. “This is not to be welcomed because the wider the spread of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene, the faster will be the build-up of resistance in the pest (bollworm). The approach should have been to use a mix of strategy to control the pest,” said scientist and convener of Gene Campaign Suman Sahai.

Dr. Sahai said the Government had enabled a virtual monopoly for Monsanto's Bt gene. “This [monopoly] does not bode well for India to be independent in its cotton cultivation. Pushing out traditional varieties is not a good idea because they contain many more genes than only the insect-resistant one. As climate change hits us, we will be looking for many types of genes that are likely to be found in the traditional varieties.”

“It is well-known that the Government made available only Bt cotton seeds under the Prime Minister's package for farmers in the suicide-prone Vidarbha region,” said a Wardha-based NGO's chairperson Vibha Gupta, bemoaning that government depots in the region hold no cotton seeds other than Monsanto's Bt variety. “The gene pool of indigenous cotton with laboratories has drastically shrunk. Rain-fed/dry farmers are the worst hit.”

Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture's Kavitha Kuruganti said the Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur, figures showed that value of insecticide usage in cotton was Rs.597 crore in 2002, the year Bt cotton was officially approved. In 2010, it had reached Rs.880 crore, even though Bt cotton was brought in on the claim that insecticide usage would come down with the technology.

Government data shows that of the 39.32 lakh hectare under cotton in Maharashtra, 36.21 lakh hectare is under the production of genetically-modified cotton. In Andhra Pradesh, out of 17.84 lakh hectare, 17.50 hectare is under Bt cotton, while out of 26.33 lakh hectare in Gujarat, 21.33 lakh hectare is under Bt cotton. Punjab sowed 5.30 lakh hectare of cotton in 2010-11, of which 5.10 lakh hectare are under Bt cotton, while Haryana cultivated 4.92 lakh hectare, of which 4.70 lakh hectare are under Bt cotton. Though their contribution to cotton production is very low, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh do not grow Bt cotton.
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‘Development of Bt brinjal a case of bio-piracy' -- The Hindu, August 11, 2011
The development of Bt brinjal was a case of bio-piracy, according to the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA). According to sources, the NBA has finally concluded its year-long investigation and recommended action against the U.S. agri-business giant Monsanto and its Indian collaborators who developed and promoted the controversial, genetically modified vegetable.

A decision to “take the case to its logical conclusion” was taken at an NBA meeting on June 20, according to official sources, who say this means Monsanto & Co. could face criminal proceedings. When the NBA met this week, it discussed “comprehensive evidence” and “supporting proof” gathered against Bt brinjal's promoters, say sources.

“The NBA is now continuously moving forward in that direction,” said a senior official who declined to speculate on how long the process will take.

The charge against Bt brinjal's developers – which include Monsanto's Indian partner Mahyco as well as Indian universities and research organisations – is that they allegedly accessed nine Indian varieties of brinjal to develop their genetically modified vegetable without prior permission from the NBA or the relevant State and local boards.

This is a violation of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, according to the Environmental Support Group (ESG) which lodged the formal complaint with the Karnataka Biodiversity Board on February 15, 2010, soon after the Government put a moratorium on Bt brinjal on health and safety grounds.

ESG points out that by using the local brinjal varieties without permission, Monsanto & Co. compromised “India's sovereign control over its biological resources” and also “denied economic and social benefits to local communities under the Access and Benefit Sharing Regime”. Bio-piracy, it adds, is a cognisable, non-bailable crime with severe financial penalties as well.

While Monsanto & Co. has denied violating bio-diversity protection laws, the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwar, claims that the law does not apply to them as they are a publically funded company. The NBA has been responsible for the investigation since June 2010.

The onion question

Meanwhile, Monsanto applied to the NBA on June 27 to access two varieties of Indian onions for potential hybridisation. While the NBA originally forwarded the application to relevant authorities, it is not clear if that process will be affected by the bio-piracy case now reaching a conclusion.
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Activists oppose BRAI Bill: The Hindu - 19/08/2011
Even as the area around Parliament here was swamped by crowds of Anna Hazare's supporters demanding a stronger Lokpal Bill, a small group of environmental activists staged their own demonstration against a different Bill, the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, 2011.

Union Science & Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was scheduled to introduce the controversial BRAI Bill in the Lok Sabha but the House did not conduct regular business due to the debate held on Mr. Hazare and the government's response to his agitation. The BRAI Bill proposes to create a new regulatory body which its opponents claim would be a single-window clearance system for genetically modified crops.

“The BRAI Bill is a blatant attempt to bulldoze through the public resistance and genuine concerns about genetically modified crops, and to deny state governments their constitutional authority over Agriculture and Health,” according to Kavitha Kuruganti of the Coalition for a GM-Free India.

Environmemtal group Greenpeace said several of its volunteers were arrested by Delhi Police as they were attempting to unfurl a banner just outside Parliament. The banner read: “Don't corrupt our Food, Stop BRAI Bill”.

Activists say that since the Science and Technology Ministry's Biotechnology Department is mandated to promote the technology, it would be a conflict of interest if it was also responsible for regulating it and ensuring biotech safety. They want BRAI to be a monitoring body under the Union Ministry of Health or Environment and Forests. They also argue that keeping regulatory control in the hands of the Centre is unconstitutional, especially as several state governments have recently refused permission for field trials of GM crops in their states.

Activists fear that the five-member BRAI could be taken over by the pro-GM corporate lobby to the detriment of small farmers, even as widespread environment and health concerns remain among consumers.

Ms. Kuruganti said the Bill has weak liability and penal clauses and does not plug the lacuna of allowing open air field trials before bio-safety is independently assessed.
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GM crops have not lived up to their promises, say NGOs: The Hindu, October 21, 2011
-- John Vidal © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2011
Image
Bt cotton hybrid Brahma BG-II grown in Coimbatore as part of an experiment. — PHOTO: K. ANANTHAN

Their report says the crops fail to increase yields, let alone solve hunger, soil erosion and chemical-use issues.

Image

Genetic engineering has failed to increase the yield of any food crop but has vastly increased the use of chemicals and the growth of “superweeds,” according to a report by 20 Indian, southeast Asian, African and Latin American food and conservation groups representing millions of people.

The so-called miracle crops, which were first sold in the U.S. about 20 years ago and which are now grown in 29 countries on about 1.5bn hectares of land, have been billed as potential solutions to food crises, climate change and soil erosion, but the assessment finds that they have not lived up to their promises.

The report claims that hunger has reached “epic proportions” since the technology was developed. Besides this, only two GM “traits” have been developed on any significant scale, despite investments of tens of billions of dollars, and benefits such as drought resistance and salt tolerance have yet to materialise on any scale.

Insect control claim

Most worrisome, say the authors of the Global Citizens' Report on the State of GMOs, is the greatly increased use of synthetic chemicals, used to control pests despite biotech companies' justification that GM-engineered crops would reduce insecticide use.

In China, where insect-resistant Bt cotton is widely planted, populations of pests that previously posed only minor problems have increased 12-fold since 1997. A 2008 study in the International Journal of Biotechnology found that any benefits of planting Bt cotton have been eroded by the increasing use of pesticides needed to combat them.

Additionally, soya growers in Argentina and Brazil have been found to use twice as much herbicide on their GM as they do on conventional crops, and a survey by Navdanya International, in India, showed that pesticide use increased 13-fold since Bt cotton was introduced. The report, which draws on empirical research and companies' own statements, also says weeds are now developing resistance to the GM firms' herbicides and pesticides that are designed to be used with their crops, and that this has led to growing infestations of “superweeds,” especially in the U.S.

Ten common weeds have now developed resistance in at least 22 U.S. states, with about 6m hectares of soya, cotton and corn now affected.

Consequently, farmers are being forced to use more herbicides to combat the resistant weeds, says the report. GM companies are paying farmers to use other, stronger, chemicals, they say. “The genetic engineering miracle is quite clearly faltering in farmers' fields,” add the authors.

The companies have succeeded in marketing their crops to more than 15 million farmers, largely by heavy lobbying of governments, buying up local seed companies, and withdrawing conventional seeds from the market, the report claims. Monsanto, Dupont and Syngenta, the world's three largest GM companies, now control nearly 70 per cent of global seed sales. This allows them to “own” and sell GM seeds through patents and intellectual property rights and to charge farmers extra, claims the report. The study accuses Monsanto of gaining control of over 95 per cent of the Indian cotton seed market and of massively pushing up prices. High levels of indebtedness among farmers is thought to be behind many of the 250,000 deaths by suicide of Indian farmers over the past 15 years.

The report, which is backed by Friends of the Earth International, the Center for Food Safety in the U.S., Confederation Paysanne, and the Gaia foundation among others, also questions the safety of GM crops, citing studies and reports which indicate that people and animals have experienced apparent allergic reactions.

But it suggests scientists are loath to question the safety aspects for fear of being attacked by establishment bodies, which often receive large grants from the companies who control the technology.

Company disputes findings

Monsanto disputes the report's findings: “In our view the safety and benefits of GM are well established. Hundreds of millions of meals containing food from GM crops have been consumed and there has not been a single substantiated instance of illness or harm associated with GM crops.” It added: “Last year the National Research Council, of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, issued a report, The Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Farm Sustainability in the United States, which concludes that U.S. farmers growing biotech crops ‘are realising substantial economic and environmental benefits — such as lower production costs, fewer pest problems, reduced use of pesticides, and better yields — compared with conventional crops'” David King, the former U.K. chief scientist who is now director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University, has blamed food shortages in Africa partly on anti-GM campaigns in rich countries.

But, the report's authors claim, GM crops are adding to food insecurity because most are now being grown for biofuels, which take away land from local food production.

Vandana Shiva, director of the Indian organisation Navdanya International, which coordinated the report, said: “The GM model of farming undermines farmers trying to farm ecologically. Co-existence between GM and conventional crops is not possible because genetic pollution and contamination of conventional crops is impossible to control.

“Choice is being undermined as food systems are increasingly controlled by giant corporations and as chemical and genetic pollution spread. GM companies have put a noose round the neck of farmers. They are destroying alternatives in the pursuit of profit.”
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by sumishi »

GM rice trial waiting for expert committee's opinion: The Hindu, October 28, 2011
Field trial of a genetically modified rice variety has been deferred till an expert committee formed to look into the food security aspect submits its report.

West Bengal Environment Minister Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar said here that the three-member committee would file its report on Sunday after which a final decision would be taken.

Mr. Ghosh told PTI that the trial, scheduled to be held at the Chinsurah Rice Research Station, was stopped following concern expressed by agricultural experts.

“Such a trial needs to be carried out at a proper ‘isolation distance' and the field for the trial has to be made at a minimum distance of 300 metres from other existing crops,” he said quoting the experts.

The Minister said various multinational companies controlling the GM seed bank are trying desperately to foist such crops upon the country.

He said that such trials of GM crops would jeopardise food security and undermine the existing seed bank in the country.

Agricultural experts have expressed reservation that such transgenic rice variety might pose a threat to bio-diversity and affect other existing seeds, thus disturbing the food security.

Earlier, field trials of genetically modified brinjal had also been cancelled on same food security concerns.

The particular rice variety on which trial was to be conducted is named ‘Oryza sativa L' containing gene for high iron content.

Calcutta University had got the permission to conduct the trials from the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) in November, last year. However, GEAC had put a condition that the trial has to be made at an ‘isolation distance' of 200 metres (either to keep the area vacant or to grow any crop other than rice) to avoid genetic contamination of rice germ plasm maintained there.

Experts said the Chinsurah rice station does not have enough space to have a 200-metre ‘isolation distance' on its four sides and pointed out that in any case GM food grain is banned across the world.
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by member_21708 »

India’s dream of low-cost indigenous Bt cotton ends
Kalyan Ray, New Delhi, Dec 29, DHNS:

Commercialisation of homegrown strain stopped after contamination

India’s dream of having a low-cost Bt-cotton from the public sector has come to a screeching halt with the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) closing the doors on Bikaneri Nerma – the first indigenous Bt cotton.

It was found that commercial seeds of the home grown strain developed at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) in Dharwad were contaminated with Monsanto’s proprietary Bt gene instead of the domestic one.

“This is end of the road for Bikaneri Nerma. We will develop new better quality material. Bikaneri Nerma is now a closed chapter for ICAR,” Swapan Datta, deputy director general in charge of crop science at ICAR told Deccan Herald.

Even though Bt cotton in India has turned out to be a success story with as many as 35 companies selling 780 bt cotton hybrids, all of them are private firms, which sell expensive seeds costing Rs 930 for every 450 gm packet of seeds.

Bikaneri Nerma, on the other hand, was a low-cost option with a price tag of Rs 200 for 2 kg and had the potential to ch­a­nge the landscape completely. “It is a sinking feeling, combined with anger and anguish. We have given the private industry a million reasons to rejoice,” said an ICAR scientist who did not wish to be identified.

While ICAR stopped commercialisation of the first and only home-grown Bt cotton following its own investigation, the Karnataka government recently formed a committee to probe into the charges after the issue was highlighted in the Assembly.

Exactly four years ago, a team of scientists from the Central Institute of Cotton Research in Nagpur, UAS, Dharwad and National Research Centre for Plant Biotechnology (NRCPB) at Indian Agriculture Research Institute here announced the successful genetic transformation of an elite Indian cotton variety called Bikaneri Nerma.

The gene used for transformation was a truncated version of CRY1AC gene and not the same as Monsanto’s proprietary gene, which many private companies use to develop their own Bt cotton seeds. The difference between the two genes was explained in a scientific publication in the journal “Current Science” on December 25, 2007.

The gene was supplied by P Anand Kumar of NRCPB to the UAS for transformation and seed development. But seeds released by state seed corporations in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat were found to have the Monsanto gene rather than the indigenous one.

“We detected contamination in 2008. Seed production was stopped in 2009 and scientists were asked to clean up the contamination. We have eliminated all contamination now,” B M Khadi, dean at the UAS, who is at the eye of storm at the moment, said.

But how did the genetic contamination happened in the first place? Was it deliberate or sloppy experimentation? Datta refused to divulge the findings of the ICAR probe and Anand Kumar was not available for comment.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/215 ... enous.html
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by Jarita »

For reference: Monsanto has earned royalty of over Rs 2,000 crore for the genetically engineered (GE) Bt cotton it has been selling in India since 2002. That’s in addition to the high cost of the Bt hybrids themselves.

http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/s ... o-monsanto
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by chetak »

‘Foreign Entities not letting India become food self sufficient’
These groups are Greenpeace, Climate Works, Ford Foundation, Huvos, Cordaid and IDRC, says a report.



MADHAV NALAPAT New Delhi | 12th Jul 2014

ix foreign NGOs based in wealthy countries, many of which themselves permit such innovations, have thus far succeeded in blocking Genetically Modified Foods (GMF) from getting introduced in India, documents available with The Sunday Guardian show. The entities are Greenpeace, Climate Works, Ford Foundation, Huvos, Cordaid and IDRC.

While some of the concerns expressed by the small but effective anti-GMF lobby in India (such as dependence on overseas sources for seeds) are real, others (such as that such foods are injurious to life) are not. The documents show that the expertly cultivated access enjoyed by foreign NGOs to media outlets has led to a drumbeat of reports that such foods are inherently disastrous to health, of course in an unspecified "long term". Diseases such as cancer and even dementia have been ascribed to "long term" ingestion of genetically modified foods, ignoring the fact that in the total global cropped area, 32% of maize and 74% of soybean, apart from 81% of cotton, are already based on genetically modified (GM) organisms, and that consumers in the world's largest economy, the US, have been ingesting GM foods for 15 years without any noticeable side effects. The till now effective infowar blocking GMF in India also ignores the fact that Indian biotechnologists working in 17 companies in Gujarat were able to develop their own varieties of BT cotton some years ago, and that the new strains have been embraced by cotton farmers across the country. There is no reason why genetically modified foods such as BT brinjal too cannot be locally developed and disseminated to farmers.

Documents available with the Ministry of Home Affairs say that foreign (or foreign-funded) NGOs have repeatedly claimed that there have been more than 800,000 "farmer suicides" across the country over the past 15 years. Apart from the fact that the figure relates to the total of reported suicides across the country, rather than just from the farming community, neither the NGOs nor the Indian activists taking up their war cries can explain what such suicides have to do with GMF, given that they have blocked the introduction of such foods across India. The only exception to such a blockade is cotton. A freeze got introduced in 2010 on field trials of both BT cotton as well as BT brinjal. However, in the case of BT cotton, Gujarat has quietly pioneered self-sufficiency in the new technology. The documents say that the consequence of Gujarat's success has been that "India is on the way to becoming the largest exporter of cotton goods in the world. Cotton yields have risen by 168% in ten years, while farmers have increased acreage by 29%", contrary to the view being spread that such innovations are deadly for the welfare of farmers.

Scientists say that a similar numerical boost can be given in the food sector, provided the ban on such foods gets removed. Interestingly, although US consumers extensively partake of such foods, much of the funding for the anti-GMF campaign in India comes from US entities such as the Ford Foundation and Climate Works, besides those perennial foreign blockers of (i) innovative technologies in foods and (ii) needed boost to power supplies in India. These include Greenpeace and Cordaid, besides the Canada-based IDRC and the Netherlands-based Huvos, all of whom have expended large sums on their campaigns in this country.

The documents say that "a well-funded and expertly orchestrated campaign designed to deny India self-sufficiency in farm products is being carried out" over the past decade. Interestingly, while several foreign backers of such agitations are religious fundamentalists opposed (in underdeveloped countries, though seldom their own) to "tinkering with God's design", in India, it is the opposite end of the political spectrum that provides oxygen to such movements. In their case, the motivation is antipathy to "development through corporates", even if in the process, no or very little development at all takes place, as was seen in Bengal for decades.

The MHA documents reveal that should an Indian citizen agree to be active in the anti GMF campaign in India, there are a plethora of foreign agencies willing to fund such efforts, provided that the activist (a) gains access to the media, and (b) is skilled in using the legal system to block or to slow down the introduction of the targeted new technologies in agricultural products. They are also enabled to (c) give talks and lectures across the country, so as to create scares in the public. An example the reports point out is the wholly imaginary claim that "hundreds of cattle and sheep died (in Warangal AP) after ingesting BT cotton leaves", or that "there were hundreds of recalls of genetically modified foods over the past decade", when the actual figure for such recalls is zero. Although the worry that foreign countries may secure monopolies in matters such as provision of seeds to farmers is justified, the BT cotton example shows that domestic companies are easily able to produce substitutes to the products of the foreign giants interested in entering and dominating the Indian market. However, as yet there is a ban on the field testing of such foods, thereby effectively blocking them from possible use in the future. The NGO-friendly UPA government made no effort to unblock such barriers to the use of foods that have the potential to boost farm production manifold in the country. Of course, this would mean lower food prices, something unwelcome to the mafias controlling key farm products, and whose sole interest is to boost consumer prices to as much as the market can bear. Such mafias are beneficiaries of the GMF and BT bans operational in India, stoppages which prevent other crops from gaining for farmers the advantages that new technology has brought to cotton cultivation in India.

The reports speak of four Indian activists who have "most assisted foreign NGOs succeed in their mission of denying selected new technologies in the domestic food sector". These are Aruna Rodrigues, Suman Sahai, Kavitha Karuganti and Vandana Shiva. It needs to be said that the integrity and dedication to the public interest of all four is beyond doubt. However, they have fully accepted the conclusions and tactics of global NGOs seeking to prevent India from accessing selected technologies that are already commonplace in the production of food consumed by 2 billion people across the globe, including in several high-income countries who would be expected to be solicitous of the health of their citizenry. The success of the lobbying conducted by the anti-GMF NGOs can be gauged from the fact that even a Parliamentary Committee and a Technical Expert Committee (which coincidentally was made up almost entirely of experts with a record of opposition to GMF) separately recommended a ban on even routine trials of such foods for an initial period of three years from 2012. Interestingly, two local NGOs active in the Block GMF movement, ASHA and IFSF (Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture and India For Safe Foods), are headquartered in the company of four anti-nuclear power NGOs at the same address, a two-room flat in Katwaria Sarai, New Delhi. The anti-nuclear power NGOs are PEACE, CNDP, INSAF and JSSS. Interestingly, the foreign funds received by them come from the same international organisations bankrolling the anti-GMF movement, including Rs 7. 5 crore from German entities.

Interestingly, a media campaign seems to have started against agencies pointing to the agenda of foreign NGOs that openly seek to deny India the energy and food production needed to lift hundreds of millions of the desperately poor to levels adequate for an acceptable lifestyle. Given the success of such infowar efforts, it seems unlikely that the success of BT cotton (produced entirely by domestic companies) will soon get replicated by the introduction of BT brinjal and other GMF designed to boost farm production to levels which would end the stranglehold of agriculture mafias on markets and thereby lower farm prices across the country, while boosting farmer productivity and incomes. "We are lucky these NGOs were not around in the 1960s, or India would never have had a Green Revolution", an official remarked, adding that "this is a country that is easy to mislead and to panic, especially to those having deep pockets".

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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by Jarita »

Shock findings in new GMO study: Rats fed lifetime of GM corn grow horrifying tumors, 70% of females die early

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/037249_gmo_s ... z37qLGnRmY

http://www.naturalnews.com/037249_gmo_s ... amage.html
(NaturalNews) Eating genetically modified corn (GM corn) and consuming trace levels of Monsanto's Roundup chemical fertilizer caused rats to develop horrifying tumors, widespread organ damage, and premature death. That's the conclusion of a shocking new study that looked at the long-term effects of consuming Monsanto's genetically modified corn.

The study has been deemed "the most thorough research ever published into the health effects of GM food crops and the herbicide Roundup on rats." News of the horrifying findings is spreading like wildfire across the internet, with even the mainstream media seemingly in shock over the photos of rats with multiple grotesque tumors... tumors so large the rats even had difficulty breathing in some cases. GMOs may be the new thalidomide.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/037249_gmo_s ... z37qLRut3Z
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Re: GMO - Entry into India and Consequences

Post by Jarita »

Rubbish


More GM crop varieties get nod for field trials

The GEAC committee has cleared 15 such proposals


http://www.business-standard.com/articl ... 149_1.html

T
he environment ministry today gave its approval for field trials of certain varieties of Genetically Modified (GM)-crops, including rice, brinjal, chickpea, mustard and cotton.

The chairman of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), which met here today, said they cleared 15 such proposals.

""Field trials have been cleared for rice, brinjal, chickpea, mustard and cotton, etc. GEAC has allowed research in Indian conditions," said Hem Pande, the GEAC chairman.

"We cleared 15 proposals today. We had a backlog of about 70 proposals and have cleared about 60 of those till date.

(cumulatively from March 2014)," he added.
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