New Delhi, 14th October 2009: The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) today considered the approval of Bt Brinjal at their 97th meeting. Internal sources say that GEAC approved the environmental release of Bt Brinjal although there were three voices of dissent within the committee, including that of Supreme Court observer and noted molecular biologist Dr P.M Bhargava. It is further believed that committee’s recommendations have been sent for the final government approval for commercial release. If approved it will be the first Genetically modified food crop to be approved in India and also the first genetically modified vegetable to be approved for commercial cultivation anywhere in the world.
In January 2009, Prof. Gilles-Eric Séralini of Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN), France, in his independent scientific appraisal of Mahyco-Monsanto’s Bt Brinjal feeding studies said “Bt Brinjal may present a serious risk for human and animal health and the release should be forbidden.” The first independent scientific commentary of its bio-safety and increasing public opinion against GE foods had forced GEAC to review the data provided by the company.
Bt Brinjal approval process has been mired in controversy due to the complete lack of transparency and vested interest of experts in the committee reviewing the study. “The expert committee members like Dr. Mathura Rai, director of the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, and Dr. Dilip Kumar of the Central Institute of Fisheries Education are either in partnership agreements with the Mahyco to develop Bt Brinjal or have done the safety tests for it. How can anyone trust a decision from a committee which seems to have an interest in to ensure Bt Brinjal gets the requisite approvals” expressed Jai Krishna, Campaigner, Greenpeace he further said “More importantly, GEAC has not address the fundamental question – does India need GE crops?”.
It took a 30 month long legal battle to bring out the bio-safety studies submitted by Mahyco to GEAC for the approval of its Bt Brinjal. Later in May, a 16 member subcommittee was set up by the GEAC to look into the concerns raised. It was pointed out by many CSO’s including Greenpeace that there is a serious conflict of interest in the sub-committee.
In June 2009, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, the Minister for Environment and Forests, under whose ministry sits GEAC, stated in public forums that he does not support GE foods and there is no great urgency for Bt Brinjal. Civil Society organizations and thousands of consumers have been emailing and faxing Mr. Ramesh on the eve of the meeting, to alert him of the impending GEAC meeting and reminding him of his promise.
If Bt Brinjal approval happens it would open the floodgates to all the 56 crops including 40 other food crops, which are presently undergoing various stages of approval. This in the absence of a labeling law leaves consumers with no choice.
“It is shocking to see that GEAC has mindlessly gone ahead and approved Bt Brinjal even when informed scientists and citizens of this country are raising serious concerns on the nature of the safety studies. GEAC by doing a charade with their regulatory gimmicks is putting the health and environment of our country in danger” said Jai Krishna. “We believe that the decision on Bt brinjal is a decision on food safety and food security of the country and hence should not be made by a beaurocratic body known to take sides with the industry. Now since the final decision is with the government, we hope that our government will stand by the people and not on the side of Seed companies who have a vested interest.”
Meanwhile, there has been growing concern from consumers and in the last one month, around 13 major processed food companies in India have stated their positions to not use GE ingredients in their products. Over 41,000 consumers have so far written to companies demanding companies to become GE free.
Greenpeace demands no approval of GE food crops be given as it is a threat to the health of the citizens and the environment.
For more information contact:
Jai Krishna, Campaigner Sustainable Agriculture, 0-98455-91992, jaikrishna.r@greenpeace.org
Syed Mehaboob, Communications, 0-9731301983, syed.mehaboob@greenpeace.org
अगर बी टी बैंगन को हम अनपढ़ लेकिन अकलमंद भारतीय नहीं खाएंगे, नही अपने जानवरों को खिलाएंगे, न यूरोप के जागरूक ग्राहकों को निर्यात कर पाएंगे तो इतने लाख टन बी टी बैंगन के भरते के बर्बाद होने का हरज़ाना कौन भरेगा ? श्री जयराम रमेश, कि श्री शरद पवार कि कृषि मंत्रालय, कि बी टी बैंगन की राष्ट्रीय व अन्तरराष्ट्रीय बीज कम्पनियाँ या ये सब मिलकर ?
If GM or Bt Brinjal cannot be eaten in India, or fed to the Indian cattle, or exported to Europe consumers, for safe eating by Europeans, what will we do with SO Much of Genetically Modified Bt Baingan ka Bhurta ?
Seeing that Jairam ramesh has agreed to meet people from GP is a good sign.. I hope you guys are also using the various media channels to whatever extent you can..
It’s also refreshing to see the focus shift from one company to the stupid committee called GEAC.. I was shocked to see that the committee members were themselves stakeholders in the vested interests of BT-enhanced food.. This kind of thing should be more widely known and circulated…
Keep up the good work guys..
Som
ये जी ई ए सी नाम की कमेटी या जी एम की दुकान क्या काम करने के लिए बनाई गई है ? क्या इसका काम-काज, निर्णय प्रणाली सरल हिन्दी भाषा में उपलब्ध है ? अगर नहीं तो क्यों नहीं ?
[...] través de Greenpeace India podemos saber que no todos los miembros del GEAC coincidían en las conclusiones, según esta [...]
How to make Govt. of India agree to discontinue Bt-Brinjal growing in country side as India has 15-20 wild species of Soalnum sp. growing in length & breadth of country. Are we going to invite ‘wild super Solanum weeds’ besides Bt-Brinjal having health hazards. In initial meetings, crops which are indeginous to India, there was a talk that GM crops in these crops will not be introduced/produced keeping in view we have larde diversity in these indeginous crops with wild relatives. But how GEAC has forgotten all this and given Bt-Brinjal approval?
Yest it is shocking that we are in a hurry to endanger the lives of citizens of our country. Vested interest are at play and we cannot let our guard down.
It is a secret international conspiracy to decrease the third world population….. which otherwise we never could… kill the teeming masses with pesticides… chemical fertilizers.. use them as guinea pigs for medicines and if all this does not work then simply introduce the Bt_crops…..
The Bt brinjal farming is dangerous. The current brinjal industry in India is estimated above Rs. 8,500 crores (above US$ 1,700 million). Sasidharan Nair describes some of the major hitches of Bt brinjal farming in India in his research study.
India is the second largest brinjal producing country in the world after China. Others are Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia, Iraq and Japan. Brinjal, which is known as eggplant or aubergine, is cultivated by a total of 14,00,000 poor and middle-class farmers on over 5,50,000 hectares annually in all the eight vegetable growing zones throughout India. It’s a very popular vegetable across India.
The poor and middle-class farmers transplant this cash crop from nurseries at different times of the year to produce two or three crops, each of 150 to 180 days duration. Farmers start harvesting brinjal at about 60 days after planting and continue to harvest for 90 to 120 days, thereby earning a stable income from market sales for most of the year
According to the latest statistics available, of the total global annual production of 32 million tons brinjal produced on 2 million hectares, India produces 84,50,200 tons or 26% of global production. Though it is not definite and scientifically proved well beyond any doubts about the origin of brinjal, I would like to find reasoning and logic of the origin of brinjal as India. The nature of cultivation and the highest wild species of brinjal seen in India represent a broad range of genetic diversity which I believe has surely migrated from India to other countries including China, South-East Asia, Africa, Europe and the South and North America. A more complex, historic, scientific and comprehensive study on this will certainly shed more light and can establish the origin of brinjal.
Overview of brinajl cultivation
Brinjal is a wonderful crop that gives good yield under different weather conditions including drought. The yield of brinjal has increased from 12.6 tons per hectare in 1987-88, to 15.3 tons per hectare in 1991-92 to 16.5 tons per hectare in 2005-06. It is a known fact that brinjal is prone to the attack of many insects and pests and diseases; by far the most important of which is the fruit and shoot bore (FSB), for which resistance has not been identified and thus it causes significant losses of up to 45% to 50% in commercial plantings and in certain cases sometimes more. Damage starts in the nursery, prior to transplanting, continues at harvest and is then carried-over to the next crop of brinjal.
FSB damages brinjal in two ways. First, it infests young shoots which limits the ability of plants to produce healthy fruit bearing shoots, thereby reducing potential yield. Secondly, and more importantly, it bores into fruits making them unmarketable at harvest – it is this decrease in marketable yield, as opposed to total yield, that is the most important yield loss caused by FSB. Due to the fact that FSB larvae remain concealed within shoots and fruits, insecticide applications, although numerous, are ineffective.
Farmers usually spray twice a week, applying 15 to 40 insecticide sprays, or more, in one season depending on infestation levels. The decision to spray is influenced more by subjective assessment of visual presence of FSB rather than guided by the more objective science-based methodology of economic threshold levels. This reliance on subjective assessment leads to gross over-spraying with insecticides, higher insecticide residues, and unnecessary increase in the farmers’ exposure to insecticides.
For example, for the more productive hybrid brinjal plantings, 54 litres of formulated insecticide per hectare is sprayed, compared with a requirement of only 16 litres when economic thresholds are used to trigger spraying. Similarly, for the less productive open-pollinated varieties, 26.7 litres of insecticides per hectare are used, compared with only 4.9 litres per hectare as required by economic thresholds. On average, 4.6 kg of active ingredient of insecticide per hectare per season is applied on brinjal at a cost of Re. 12,000 per hectare; this is the highest quantity applied to any vegetable crop with the exception of chilli, which consumes 5.13 kg of active ingredient per hectare; okra consumes 3.71 kg of active ingredient per hectare.
To illustrate the importance of FSB, of the 15 recommended insecticides for brinjal more than half, or eight are prescribed only for FSB. Typically, farmers indiscriminately apply a cocktail of insecticides on brinjal, including insecticides such as monocrotophos that are restricted or banned for use on vegetable crops. In a survey of pesticide residues in vegetable crops taken at the farm gate and markets from 1999 to 2003 confirmed that of the 3,043 samples, two-thirds were found to have pesticide residues, but these were within accepted tolerances, whereas 9% contained residues above the minimum recommended levels. The increasing amount of insecticide residues in vegetables and fruits has been a major concern to consumers who currently have no choice except to buy brinjals with high insecticide residues, but despite the application of many insecticides the brinjal fruits sold in the market are still of inferior quality, infested with larvae of FSB.
The above is the overview of brinjal cultivation in India.
Now enters a private sector company as a cartel with vested-interests to save brinjal farmers in India some eight years back, i.e. in 2001. Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Limited or in short Mahyco started working in partnership with world’s largest seed company Monsanto based in the USA. Monsanto and Mahyco lobby is very powerful and have immense hold and influence in the power corridors of central-state governments including the media. Mahyco and Monsanto claim to provide Bt brinjal to India which will give more yields and require very less pesticides treatments.
What is bt brinjal?
Bt brinjal is a transgenic brinjal created by inserting genes from the soil bacterium bacillus thuringlensis into brinjal. The transformation was carried out using genetic engineering techniques viz. Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated method Bt brinjal contains three genes namely:
The cry1Ac gene derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) to produce an insecticidal protein, which is driven by a viral promoter, the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter.
2. The nptII gene for an antibiotic resistance marker, neomycin phosphotransferase.
3. The aad gene for another marker O -aminoglycoside adenyl trans ferase
Successful lobbying
Despite the hue and cry from scientists, NGOs, economists, researchers, activists and international bio-safety experts and reports and studies published in national and international media it is sure that the danger of BT brinjal farming is going to happen soon in India. We have to see when the official fiat is coming out, whether in February or March, 2010. The formal government nod is pre-planned with vested interests from certain corners. According to the information received from some reliable sources, the government is deliberately keeping a low pace and Sonia GandhiSonia GandhiSonia Gandhi has specifically told Jairam RameshJairam RameshJairam Ramesh to delay the official announcement.
In the world’s largest democracy, a policy-matter affecting over 110 crore people is going to be decided single-handedly by one minister of state (independent charge) for environment and forests i.e., Jairam Ramesh, who is very much adamant and enthusiastic to give the official sanction for Bt brinjal farming in India without any foresight. Armed with a report by the so-called ‘Expert Committee II’ consisting of 16 people including bureaucrats, now the minister will give the final approval.
The Supreme Court of India directed the central government on 12th February 2008 to include the Father of the Green Revolution in India Dr. M.S. Swaminathan and former Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology Dr. Pushpa M. Bhargava as special members of a technical panel that examines the pleas for allowing open-field trials of genetically modified foods and crops in India. However, government considered only Dr. Pushpa M. Bhargava to become an observer and calculatingly ignored his advice and opinion in whatever possible manner and hastily the so-called “Expert Committee” approved the commercial farming of genetically modified (GM) brinjal in India.
No crucial and mandatory tests were conducted by the expert committee. Nevertheless based on mere reports submitted by Mahyco the ‘Expert Committee’ blindly approved them. The entire tests were carried out by either Mahyco or they submitted test reports from the accredited labs of Mahyco’s choice. Similarly all samples were provided by Mahyco and no efforts were taken by the ‘Expert Committee’ to verify the authenticity of the samples submitted and to test other samples by collecting through other sources. So Mahyco, 16-member so-called ‘Expert Committee’ and a mock Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) who had virtually no power to take the unbiased right decision in the interest of over 110 crore Indians.
The ‘Expert Committee’ did not bother many any criticisms and the dossiers of objections raised by Greenpeace and Kerala Bio-diversity Board never found a place in the report. Renowned French scientist Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini of the Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN), who carried out the first ever independent assessment of Monsanto-Mahyco’s dossier on toxicity tests and submitted the report to the Indian regulatory authorities mentioning the release of Bt brinjal into the environment for food, feed and cultivation may present a serious risk for human and animal health and unfit for consumption. However, the ‘Expert Committee’ totally ignored his report.
The current brinjal industry is estimated above Rs. 8,500 crores (above US$ 1,700 million). Some of the major hitches of Bt brinjal are monopoly supply of seeds from Monsanto at a high rate, which would be whimsical and unquestionable, fixed by them, seed money for minimum 120 times cultivation or more, no preservation of the initial seed for next cultivation and spoiling the natural culture or biodiversity of soil. The recurring profit from seeds sale and forced and disguised dependence are the major deceive goals of Monsanto.
After introducing the Bt brinjal in India Mahyco and Monsanto are planning to introduce it in Bangladesh and Philippines. Also Mahyco and Monsanto will introduce Bt potato, Bt tomato, Bt wheat and Bt rice in India soon. If the information received from some sources is true, our minister Jairam Ramesh will help Mahyco and Monsanto to succeed in their venture.
When will we learn from the bitter experiences of Bt cotton farming in India?
Thanks a lot Mr.Sasidharan for making things known!
MONSANTO IS ALL PREPARED TO BE THE SLAYER OF ORGANIC FOODS IN INDIA
Do you know what the following have in common?
• Agent Orange
• PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls)
• 2,4,5-T (dioxin was a by-product of manufacture)
• Aspartame (Nutrasweet)
• Roundup Herbicide
• Posilac – rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) Dairy
• GE (Genetically Engineered) seeds
They were (or are) made by Monsanto, the MNC prepared to be the slayer of organic foods in India.
Do you want to appreciate and trust a Multi National Company like Monsanto who:
• Sues individual farmers when their fields become “contaminated” with GE seed pollen from a nearby farm. In a 2007 report, the Center for Food Safety, in Washington, D.C., documented 112 such lawsuits, in 27 states.
• Sues dairy farmers who advertise rGHB-free milk, claiming they should not have the right to inform their customers that their dairy products do not contain the Monsanto chemical.
• Hid PCB pollution in the town of Anniston, Alabama for decades.
• Refuses to compensate veterans and families for exposure to the toxic chemical, Agent Orange.
• Has received upwards of $25 million for providing RoundUp Ultra in anti-drug fumigation efforts. Local communities say that Roundup Ultra is destroying food crops, water sources and protected areas in the Andes, primarily Colombia.
• Makes a product, Roundup, that aids the spread of fusarium head blight in wheat, currently devastating the wheat crop in Canada. And then, of course, there’s the evolution of “superweeds” which are impervious to Roundup.
• Has polluted public water supplies with PCBs, dioxins and Roundup and then turns around to make a double profit by taking ownership, filtering the water and selling it back to the people.
• Produces patented GE crops that have cost American taxpayers $12 billion in farm subsidies in the past three years.
• Is causing Indian cotton farmers to go bankrupt from Monsanto’s GE Cotton.
In addition to this, the White House recently approved a $770 million aid package aimed at easing the global food crisis. Included in the aid package was $150 million earmarked for the U.S. Agency for International Development to promote Genetically Engineered (GE) crops in famine stricken countries. This is a thinly disguised attempt at subsidizing biotech corporations and advancing the genetic contamination of organic and non-ge crops in famine stricken countries.
Chances are that you and I are already eating or using GE products – corn, soybeans, canola, cotton and sugar beets – without knowing it. Proponents of GE products claim that the worldwide hunger can be remedied by planting more GE seeds. The problem is that companies like Monsanto who monopolize the market force farmers to sign ”technology use agreements” meaning they can’t reuse seed from the crop.
Anyone interested in starting a campaign to boycott and Bt Brinjal and other crops. If we refuse to eat it, what are they going to do with it
Everyone should oppose BT Brinjan .
Some slave minded politicians want to make India as
subordinate country of USA .
People of India should come out on road and create pressure
on Government to oust all harmful USA companies from the soil
of India .
The main motivation of USA companies is to ruin Indian economy
and flourish USA in lieu of bloods of Indians .
Same way some American banks are exploiting India .
Let us save our country from the hands of
American Imperialism.
BT Brinjal is the Warren Hastings of this century .
People should united and start agitation against BT Bringals and
American Banks and some other American organization who are trying to
destroy the sovereignty of our noble country.
[...] followed quickly by many others already in the commercial pipeline), questions of terrible science, corruption of agencies and selling out to giant international food companies sprang [...]
nice article ive found some great video at youtube about it check it out here:
So, one night I was sleeping on my side. When I opened my eyes there were these really tiny little specks that glow in the dark. They are green and small, and as far as I know don’t move. First, they started out like a little patch, but they’re scattered everywhere. They even reached the bottom of my bed. When I picked one up which is very hard to do, and shined a flash light on it, nothing. So, its clear and its glow-in-the dark. I don’t think its bugs and I cant take a picture. Can anyone help? It could be glitter, I just don’t want to see like fireflies all in my bedroom one day, and since their eggs take a long time to hatch I don’t really want to find out myself.Any idea?