The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has allowed commercial cultivation of the dreaded Bt. brinjal. If this decision is ratified by the Government of India, some 170 of our commonest food items will also become chemically altered. Rice and wheat, potatoes and onions, mustard and bananas will all be genetically manipulated for us.
What's wrong with that? Basically two things. First, GE's benefits are temporary. In six to nine years the pests develop resistance and the technology falls flat, necessitating increased doses of pesticides. This is already happening in Gujarat where Bt. cotton conquered the market. Sheep grazing in Bt. cotton fields have died. In the case of food crops, GE causes direct health hazards, a fact that has persuaded Japan and Europe to ban GE foods. An Austrian Government report warns that GE foods can cause infertility in humans. The highly rated National Academy of Science in the US has published a finding that dietary DNA can find its way into our blood and transform our body cells. French molecular biologists said, among other things, that rats fed on Bt.brinjal suffered diarrhoea and liver weight loss.
Secondly, the technology forces farmers to buy the engineered seeds separately each season. Which means that the company that supplies the seeds can not only manipulate the prices at will, but also control the entire food security of the country by, for example, supplying inadequate or faulty seeds of rice and wheat one season.
Monsanto did use its monopoly to increase prices in 2006 and make excessive profits. The company was taken to court under the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Act. It lost the case.
The brazenness of Monsanto and its Indian face, Mahyco, has been evident in other forms also. Field trials of Bt okra were started in a village in West Bengal on the basis of "permission" given by the local panchayat which of course had no authority to do such things. At another level, the biosafety studies data submitted by Mahyco to GEAC were kept secret. It took a legal battle lasting more than two years to bring them to light. What's GEAC's game?
The Biotechnology Regulatory Committee had ruled against Bt.cotton field testing. GEAC ignored it. Open-field testing of Bt.brinjal, not allowed in any other country, was allowed in India under GEAC pressure. The main reason seems to be that GEAC has members who have either done assignments for Mahyco or have partnership agreements with it to develop Bt.brinjal. The names of such members have been made public. The "architect of biotechnology in India", P.M Bhargava, who was named by the Supreme Court as a special nominee to attend the GEAC meetings, found that test data given to the GEAC was given by the applicant company itself. "At every stage there is a bias if not deceit all the way", he said.
K.P.Prabhakaran Nair, Professor at a German Foundation, who chaired a Supreme Court ordered experts committee asked: "Why is the GEAC in such a hurry in this matter? When the scientific truths about GE products are as clear as daylight, why is there hesitation to try alternatives to GE food? Have we learned nothing from the setbacks caused by excessive use of pesticides? In Mexico where the traditional staple is corn, American attempts to introduce genetically engineered corn were rejected. Why is India's response different?"
Because in India the interests of the few take precedence over the interests of the country. Because India is the paradise of manipulators who can make the impossible possible. Because India, alas, has genetically engineered Indians in key positions.
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This shows that India is a cheap country and a dumping ground.
We don't think of linking the rivers to solve the water problem, instead settle for some cheap stupid stuff.
Best wishes for a developed India by 2020 (projection by Dr. Abdul Kalam).
Don't remember any good that he did as President except writing poetry!!!
It is amusing to watch the panic of the pundits-of-all shudder whenever a step is made to provide basic living facilities to the millions of the unfortunate BOP class of India. Middle class gurus are worried if Bt Brinjal would cause gaseous distention to their pot belly or troublesome flatus during 5 star seminars, the ordinary indian just wonder if he would get at least one piece of Bt or other brand of brinjal to feed into an empty stomach!!!
hello guys,
i am not expert in this filed but reading through this article and comments there off made me believe this is something serious..... there is no pint in pointing fingers at others what should be the course of action of every individual ?..can any one explain. link send by H. singh was more informative ......and no one can expect anything from ministers in this regard........
TJSG's genetically engineered Indians.
How true is TJSG. Men who enter Politics in India with just a Carpetbag, become Crorpathis with in no time. There is no authority to check their progress. Loka- ayukthas, Courts have No Authority to Check them, Because the Legislature and Bureaucracy have become their hand tools. They can make legislations and issue orders to suite their wishes. One example is the recently proposed Financial Code to be adopted by 20012. MayGod save India and Indians from BT Brinjal and Genetically Engineered Politicians and Babus.