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Bt Brinjal Briefing
We have prepared a document explaining why Bt Brinjal is bad for India.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Genetic Modification (GM)?
2. How does it differ from cross-breeding or other forms of biotechnology?
3. Is it safe to eat?
4. What about other countries?
5. How do GE crops affect the environment?
6. Are GE crops good for farmers?
7. Will GE crops feed the world?
8. What is Bt brinjal?
9. Who is developing Bt brinjal, and why?
10. Will Bt brinjal benefit farmers or consumers?
11. How can you differentiate between Bt brinjal and non Bt varieties of brinjal?
12. What is the current status of Bt Brinjal?
13. What is my part as a consumer?
14. So what do you want me to do?
Genetic Engineering explained
Genes are what give all organisms their traits or characteristics. Genetic Modification (GM) is a relatively new and poorly understood technology through which new organisms are created by using genes from other unrelated organisms. Using genetic engineering, scientists put characteristics of one organism into another, for e.g., genes from fish that can survive in very cold water have known to be inserted into strawberries’ to make them frost resistant.
Currently, genetic engineering is mainly used to produce two types of crops.
1. Herbicide-tolerant crops: these are genetically engineered to resist herbicide farmers spray on the crop to kill weeds and represent 80% of GE crops.
2. Bt crops: these are genetically engineered to produce their own pesticide to kill certain insect pests and represent 20% of GE crops.
How does it differ from cross-breeding or other forms of biotechnology?
The key difference is that genes are moved between species.
Traditional breeding involves breeding organisms within the same species. In genetic engineering, however, genes are forced to move across often quite different species. For example, this kind of manipulation has seen cow genes inserted into soy beans, moth genes into apples, rat genes into lettuce, spider genes into goats and even human genes into rice.
Similarly, while genetic engineering is a form of biotechnology, what sets it apart from many other gene technologies (such as cloning and gene therapy) is that it involves transferring genes across species.
The GE industry is built on the premise that genes and their functions can be isolated, patented, spliced into an organism, and controlled. However, several recent studies have called into question this simplistic view of the science of genetic engineering.
For example, a 2007 study published in the leading scientific journal Nature reveals that genes appear to operate in a complex network where they react, interact and overlap with each other in ways we still do not understand. This research raises serious questions about the established ways in which we assess the safety of GE crops.
Is it safe to eat?
Genetic Engineering may affect food safety in ways that we cannot predict. It may happen through gene disruption or instability leading to new toxins being produced; the new protein produced by the foreign gene may cause allergies or toxicity illness.
There have been sporadic studies conducted by independent scientists and the findings are rather disturbing.
i. Rats subject to transgenic potatoes were observed to have had adverse effects in their vital organs including the kidney, thymus, and gastronomic muscle.
ii. Allergic reactions can be caused either by a protein known for its allergenic properties introduced into a transgenic plant or due to unknown structural
iii. After a decade of research, mice, which were being fed GE peas, were detected with lung inflammation.
iv. Food allergies occur in one to two per cent of adults and six to eight per cent of children; therefore, children would be most vulnerable to any allergens that may have gone undetected in GE food.
v. Also seen in the rats was stunted growth, impaired immune systems, potentially precancerous cell growth in the intestines, inflamed kidneys and lung tissue, less developed brain, enlarged livers, pancreases and intestines and higher blood sugar.
iv. Genes can cross from the food we eat to the bacteria in our stomachs. These may include antibiotic-resistant genes that are often used as marker genes in GM technology. In the long run this may make humans and animals resistant to anti-biotics.
v. Genes are also sometimes inserted from animals and plants that do not usually form part of the human diet. There has been much talk about inserting genes from venomous insects such as scorpions into rice. Other manipulations may sound less horrific but may be more dangerous.
No scientific consensus has been reached regarding the safety of GM food for human consumption. Some believe that GM food has been brought into the market too soon without proper long term safety tests.
What about other countries?
The European Union has a ban on growing GM crops in the country. As far as packaged food products are concerned, there are not allowed to be manufactured within the European Union, but if they are imported from outside, they required to be labeled as containing GM by law, so that a consumer buying these products can actually make a conscious choice. At present in our country, no such legislation exists. Therefore it is the onus of all of us as consumers to ask the food companies to give us that choice.
Consumers from many nations across the world have taken progressive steps to demand that they be informed about what goes into their food. In Europe, Japan, China, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and some African nations GM fruits and vegetables or processed food containing GM ingredients have to be labeled to let consumers make a well informed choice. Due to increasing consumer pressure food companies are selling GM free milk even in the USA, the mecca of GM crops.
How do GE crops affect the environment?
There is growing scientific evidence that GE crops are harmful to biodiversity and the environment. Furthermore, once GE crops are released into the environment they cannot be recalled. As living organisms they can reproduce and pollute indefinitely.
The introduction of herbicide-tolerant GE crops to the US has resulted in a huge increase in both herbicide use, and the incidence of herbicide-resistant weeds.
Roundup, the herbicide sold by Monsanto in conjunction with its Roundup Ready GE crops, has been shown to be a potential endocrine disrupter — that is, it could interfere with our hormones. It is also toxic to certain wildlife, such as tadpoles.
The introduction of GE canola has been shown to have serious biodiversity impacts. For example, a UK government study found there were 24% fewer butterflies in the margins of GE canola fields because there were fewer weed flowers (and hence nectar) for them to feed on. In addition, there were fewer seeds for birds.
The use of Roundup on GE soy has also been shown to have an adverse impact on soil health, leading to reduced amounts of beneficial nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil.
Insect-resistant GE crops (termed Bt crops) have been shown to be toxic to “non-target” organisms (such as butterflies) and beneficial insects (such as green lacewings). They also threaten soil and water ecosystems, since many Bt crops secrete Bt toxins from the root into the soil. Agricultural wastes from Bt maize have been identified entering water courses.
Bt crops are intended to prevent the need for three applications of insecticide. Yet Bt maize varieties continuously release a toxin into the environment in quantities 3000–5000 times higher than the sprays used for non-GM farming.
In 1935, some 3000 imported cane toads were introduced to Australia to control native cane beetle populations. Today, cane toad numbers exceed 200 million, threatening local biodiversity. We learnt an important lesson from this — playing around with natural ecosystems can have unpredictable effects which are extremely difficult to undo. This is just as true for the genetic engineering of crops.
In fact, the risks associated with GE crops may be greater – pollination through open air exacerbates the potential for contamination and hampers containment.
Are GE crops good for farmers?
GE crops radically change the nature of farming, transferring control of seed from farmers to agrochemical companies such as Monsanto. Contamination from GE crops also threatens the integrity of traditional farming crops and affects access to markets.
Seed for GE crops is owned by agrochemical companies under patent law. This enables them to set conditions on farmers using the seed — for example, requiring farmers to pay royalties or demanding that farmers purchase new seed each season rather than sowing seed saved from previous harvests. GE crops bind farmers into legally enforceable, restrictive and onerous agreements.
In Canada and the United States, where GE crops have been sowed for over 12 years now, these companies aggressively pursue legal action against farmers for patent infringement. Many of these are farmers unknowingly growing GE crops on their land as a result of contamination. Canadian canola grower, Percy Schmeiser, was sued by Monsanto because GE canola was growing on his land as a result of contamination. Monsanto successfully argued patent infringement.
There is also a much larger economic cost for farmers across the board.
Again in North America, conventional growers are discovering that GE crops from neighbouring fields have become weeds that cannot be sprayed off with herbicides because they have inbuilt resistance. The Royal Society of Canada has warned that most of the country’s prairie land is now contaminated with herbicide-resistant canola weeds, the removal of which raises farm costs.
US and Canadian farmers are discovering a further problem with GE crops —export markets won’t buy them. Following the introduction of GE canola in Canada, sales to Europe dried up. The same is true of US corn, which is no longer sold to Europe.
Monopolising the seed market and denying farmers their ancient right to save, exchange and replant seeds is not a solution to poverty.
A United Nations report involving 400 scientists concluded that GE crops were not a solution to soaring food prices.(1) It found little evidence to support claims that GE crops increase yields. In fact, the report warned that the patents associated with GE crops actually pose problems.
World hunger will only end when the underlying causes of poverty are addressed. Poverty prevents people from securing their basic right to food either because they have no means to purchase food or they have no access to the farmland and natural resources necessary to meet basic food needs. GE crops do nothing to address the poverty that causes hunger. In fact, they threaten to make it worse by putting the control of the world’s food supply into the hands of a few giant multinational companies.
In developing countries, straightforward solutions that empower the poverty stricken are among the most effective ways to reduce hunger and secure sustainable livelihoods. For example, a major study from the United Nations concluded that organic farming offers Africa the best chance of breaking the cycle of poverty and malnutrition it has been locked in for decades. The study analysed 114 projects in 24 African countries, finding that yields more than doubled where organic, or near-organic, practices were used. That increase in yield jumped to 128% in east Africa.
High-tech agricultural technical packages, in contrast, are expensive and often accentuate inequalities, contributing to landlessness and food insecurity.
Ending world hunger also requires confronting bad land stewardship practices that lead to permanent environmental degradation. GE crops that tie farmers to using chemicals promise to make this situation worse, not better, as well as posing new environmental risks.
What is Bt brinjal?
Bt brinjal is a transgenic variety of brinjal, which contains a gene (Cry 1Ac), artificially introduced into its genome, mainly from a soil bacterium called bacillus thuringienesis (Bt). This is said to give the brinjal plant resistance against insects like the Brinjal Fruit and Shoot Borer (Leucinodes orbonalis) and Fruit Borer (Helicoverpa armigera).
Who is developing Bt brinjal, and why?
Bt Brinjal is being developed in India by Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco), a subsidiary of the multinational Monsanto. Although they claim that genetically modifying crops will increase yield, this has not been proved in the history of GM crops, for any crop anywhere in the world.
By controlling the seeds, multinationals are slowly and systematically taking over the entire food system, multinationals gain to profit at the cost of both farmers and consumers alike.
Will Bt brinjal benefit farmers or consumers?
Bt brinjal has been developed to provide resistance to only one pest. It does not provide resistance to other pests, which will continue to attack the plant. Moreover, over time, even Shoot Borer will develop resistance to this variety of genetically modified brinjal, and will need to be replaced with a different variety of modified brinjal. Bt cotton is case in point. Also, pollination will ensure that all indigenous varieties of the species will eventually be wiped out, thereby completely wiping out biodiversity, which is so crucial for the survival of any species.
As far as consumers are concerned, there is no evidence to suggest that plants that Bt brinjal will be safe for consumption in the long run. In general, there are several health concerns as far as GM crops are concerned, which have not been understood, let alone addressed.
All in all, genetically modified crops are known to neither benefit the farmer nor the consumer.
How can you differentiate between Bt brinjal and non Bt varieties of brinjal?
Bt brinjal does not look any different from non Bt varieties. They cannot be differentiated just by looking at them. In fact, the only way to tell them apart is elaborate and expensive laboratory tests. This leaves consumers with no choice in the matter.
What is the current status of Bt Brinjal?
Mahyco, a biotech company has been field testing Bt Brinjal though there is almost no consumer awareness on GM food and its impact on health. Although it has completed field trials, scientists, consumers, farmers… almost all stakeholders are concerned that no adequate tests have been done to prove it bio-safe i.e. safe for consumption or release into the environment.
Despite the concern, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (the GEAC) has given a go ahead for the environmental release of Bt Brinjal. The final decision will be taken by Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Environment and Forests in February 2010.
If this goes through, Bt Brinjal would become the first edible GM product in the country, and the first GM vegetable anywhere in the world. This will also open the floodgates for the 56 other crops, which are undergoing various stages of trial across the nation.
What is my part as a consumer?
There are no laws in India today that require major food companies to have a policy on GMs. This means that the companies have varied positions on GMs and some of them do not even take a stand on the issue! Also, since there is no legislation either that requires GM products to be labeled differently; this means that we will not even know when GM products land up in our kitchens! As a consumer, you have every right to know what is inside your food and ask the companies to take an initiative to ensure safe food for all!
So what do you want me to do?
As a consumer you have the right to safe food! Take action to stop this disaster now! You cannot become a lab rat for these experiments in food!
Footnote
1. The report was commissioned by the UN–World Bank International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology Conference in April 2008.
Googlel- “Agenda21″ and” Eugenics” says:
March 5, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Mr Unbiased,
How naive you are as an informed citizen when you put this statement “While GM foods have their problems, they have more benefits than problems.” Have you ever faced the hidden truth which is not released to the general public because of the interest of globalist agenda. No you can’t and masses also can’t because we are all controlled by the false media and real reports are always suppressed. We are living in “SCIENTIFIC TYRANNY” where the governments (puppets of the Globalist Banking-Military Industry Cartel) take the route of problem-solution alchemy, they create problem and then force solution which is beneficial for the globalist agenda. Now when you say GM food have their problems you have no ideas how BIG that problem is. Do you know how and why GM foods came into existence? GM came into existence because of the WARS and Globalists Profits Agenda and the agenda of Eugenics and mass extermination of human population.
After second world war the it was headache to dump millions of dollars worth of excessive chemical weapon “Nerve Gas”. So the Globalist-Military industry decided to spray it on us in the diluted form and experimented on cockroaches and other insects and reduced the effect to that level that it could kill the bugs instantly but not the humans and that gave rise to the Pesticides.
So a new industry started and the propagating that without pesticides there can no longer be excessive food growth and whole population would die starving and the biggest manufacturing company of pesticides then in USA was MONSANTO. It was a big wave in the name of Green Revolution and excessive pesticides use which did more harm to the ecology and human cancers and deaths. Excessive use also made the bugs resistant to the variety of harmful pesticides and accelerated the problem. There were big protests and then the same SCIENTISTS who then said it is ALL GOOD FOR YOU, were responsible for the gruesome act and the government had just apologies. After these incidents people started looking for natural ways which are tried and tested since human history for more than 5000 years and beyond. And found the Bacillus thuringiensis (bah-SILL-is thur-in-jee-EN-sis),commonly known as Bt, is a bacterium. Bt acts as an insecticide by producing proteins that react in the gut of some insects, paralyzing their digestive systems. The insects stop eating and quickly starve. And “volla” a natural bacterium but with some limitations because the bacteria must be eaten by the insect to be effective, good spray coverage is essential. You should avoid breathing the powder or spray when applying Bt to your plants. Bt degrades fairly quickly in sunlight, so it will not persist in your garden. Some strains persist for less than 24 hours while others remain viable for about a week.
So MONSANTO started experimentation with genes and found the strains of DNA genes that the bacteria uses to produce its toxin , then you know what happened, MR Unbiased, these SCIENTISTS of MONSANTO who are the representatives and sold their souls to the Military-Globalist-Banking cartel industry took out these toxin producing genes from that bacteria and infused these into the genome DNA of the plant so that EACH AND EVERY CELL OF THE PLANT CAN PRODUCE THIS TOXIN AUTOMATICALLY and when the bug eats ANY PART OF THE PLANT may be it a root, leaf, fruit and any cell of that plant THE BUG WILL BE KILLED. These scientists who have sold their souls know this very well and they will not ever let their families live on and eat any BT crops at all. WHY? because the bacteria toxin producing gene is present in each and every cell of your plant food and this gene is remains in the digestive track and harmful to the good gut bacteria which is necessary for human digestive system and thus leads to digestive track cancer. This is just one of the 1000 several reasons given to avoid GM in our natural food chain. It has been found that the the live stock animals those have been feed on GM crops (because these same GM crops were rejected by human population for consumption in the several European countries , American continent after BIG protests), these live stock animals showed signs of food allergies , digestive track cancer and other cancers, and most importantly signs of impotency. Cows never became pregnant when feed on BT corn crops and the whole of the dairy farming community suffered. Now imagine putting GM food on your dinning table and giving it to you own children, wife, husband, parents , brother-sisters and your friends. This is a pure case of MASS EXTERMINATION of HUMAN POPULATION by the EUGENICISTS and followers of the Military-Globalists agenda.
Again all the puppetry governments and the so called NEW WORLD GOVERNMENT is here for SCIENTIFIC TYRANNY over us and want to suppress all the real news and show BIG PROBLEMS to you “GLOBAL STARVATION” and in actual fact they create it for you. Do you know MR Unbiased, that it was the agenda of the Anglo-British empire to keep all the third world nations (Africa-Asia) starving by propagating them to produce Bio-Fuels and other cash crops on their fertile lands instead of food crops for years and still it is ongoing , and even old history of British Raj tell this that British to sabotage the fertile Indian lands propagated the cultivation of INDIGO (Neel) . So MR Unbiased always remember this that puppets governments controlled by the Globalist-Military-Banking cartel are Problem-Reaction-Solution governments, which themselves create Problems and look for the public reaction and release the solution to match their sinister agendas.
Right now the Globalist-Military Corporations have the technology to organic grow organic plants with accelerated growth without much resources needed through the use of magnetic field but they will never release that to the general public because their first agenda is to mass exterminate 90% of the human population under the disguised name of SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT-Agenda21 of United Nations. And GM food is one of the step towards the soft killing of masses and to take away the natural survival ability of the human population and God gifted way to have free seeds from the fruits. In this direction, under the pressure of Military-Globalist-Banking cartel industry, the bills are already being in process to pass in USA and Canada that NO ONE would be allowed to grow any food in their kitchen gardens at all it will be considered as illegal as growing narcotics.
Mr Unbiased you also quoted “And to others who think scientists decide for the public, well who else will? You want your local postal worker to decide what nutrition you will get?” and I have to say again you are so naïve; the organic farmer , our own Ayuerveda , your own grandma, our Vedas can tell you more truth about food nutrition and these scientists who have sold their souls.
You also quoted “Do not follow propaganda blindly ” and I have to say YES all the mainstream media around you is run by the Globalist-Military-Banking industry cartel’s money to make people blind and follow the propaganda and never get the truth.
You are also right MR Unbiased when you quote “And to the other person who thinks this bill has something to do with democratic values, when has India ever produced truly democratic bills? Democracy is only an idea that we hope for and have never been exposed to.” You are so right is saying this because NO GOVERNMENT in the world in this post 2000 era can make a bill which is against the will of their Masters.
Welcome to the NEW WORLD ORDER of scientific tyranny, where “War is Peace – Freedom is slavery and Ignorance is Strength.
Please WAKE UP SHEEPLES , enough is enough. Get out of this Matrix and see how deep the rabbit holes goes for yourself.
If you want more truth, feel free to email at sams_chat@yahoo.com
Heya from Germany! I have found your site on yahoo. Great content! Angela S. King x
Hi, I am a student in a university in the USA. In one of our classes we had a discussion over GM crops. What I gathered from that is, the farmers here are also scared of using GM crops on their fields, but “scientists” and along with the MNC’s (Monsanto/ DuPont) are convincing them about using GM crops on field. These researchers have no idea about what goes on in the field, they are only concerned with the “success of their experiments” in the labs. For us Indians and I am sure for most agrarian communities across the world, farming is much more than just a means of livelihood- it is so closely linked with our cultures and traditions and our festivities. I am from Kerala, the southern state of India. Our two major festivals are Vishu and Onam which are associated with the harvest and the sowing of rice. When I think of farming / farmers, I have a lot of reverence for the occupation. People, who have never been lived closely with nature will only think harnessing it for money.
The Russians have just reported today
That GM Food just isn’t safe
So no way!
Should India take up
this chalice, then you
Will suffer and your people
will suffer too
The Corporate scene
is going against
The natural World
And what I have sensed
Is that people are suffering
Animals too
and the environment
so what to do?
Say No to GM
Tell them, no way
To the GM Brigade
Thats what you say!
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We should all strongly condemn the introduction of GM foods on our pallette! I wish the Indian media would give more attention to this topic instead of wasting time on unnecessary news!
These are the situations where government should interfere and stop exploiting the nature. Bio technology is amazing genre of science like any other form of science it has own merits and demerits. I work in Finance department of Bio Technology company. We spend lot of money into researching new technology. There have been instances where we have withdrawn our product when naturalist proved that it is more harmful than good. I remember an article which said that there would be approving authority before such genetically modified product could reach consumers. GM products should limit to new fuel invention, new washing technology, industrial beneficial products but we should never use them for consumables. Food and health should always dependent on nature’s gift not genetically modified food.
BT can change our lives it can create better planet for living. But we should be cautious as to where we need to use to what extent.
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Karan
Thank you for another fantastic blog. Where else could I get this kind of info written in such an incite full way? I have been looking for such information.
We hope gone better…
I think the biggest lack of all the information that is provided above is references to all the BIG statements you have made. We as scientists make our conclusions based on FACTs and not writing statements read by the common public by just quoting some random articles. It is imperative to have the whole information as it is, and not BIASED the way it is presented above Maybe GM crops are all bad, and what you say is correct. But at least lay the FACTS with some supported research. Where were the articles you quote published with authors and date of publishing etc.
The concerns are genuine, effects could be devastating in future. Please be aware and stop the proposal in our greater interest.
Accomplishment.