Law on Golden Rice ban urged

Law on Golden Rice ban urged

Non-government organizations supporting organic food and farms want local and national laws to ban genetically-modified crops such as the controversial Golden Rice for its detrimental effect to health and farmers’ income.

The Go Organic Davao City and Go Organic, Mindanao gathered Thursday at Lispher Inn for a forum with city councilors to discuss the passing of an ordinance to stop GM plants in the city.

Atty. Lee Aurello of Third World Network said the city needs this legislation to complement the Organic Agriculture Ordinance it passed in 2010.

“It should be a twin ordinance, as organic farming can’t co-exist with GMO farms because of the effects of pollination from GM varieties that will harm organic farms.”

Aurello said working with LGUs to promote safer agriculture practices have reaped benefits for farmers and consumers alike.

She mentioned their success with LGUs in Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Bohol in passing ordinances against GMOs. “It’s a matter of political will. So why can’t Davao do the same?”

In 2010, the city stopped the UP Mindanao from its field testing of BT talong for failing to consult barangay and city officials. The Court of Appeals also ruled last May banning BT talong in the city.

But Aurello said the local ordinance does not discount the need for a national legislation such as the Bio-Safety Law that mandates labelling of food and agriculture products that contain GMOs.

Besides, she said, there is a tendency for agencies to promote GM crops such as the Department of Agriculture that supports testing of BT talong nationwide.

“This agency has a conflict of interest; it regulates and promotes GM crops at the same time,” said Aurello

Dr. Chito Medina, national coordinator of the farmers and  MASIPAG echoed Lee’s sentiments on the difficulty to lobby for legislation in Congress, especially now that the latter is caught in the pork barrel issue.

Medina raised concern on the Golden Rice variety that is being promoted by the Department of Agriculture and IRRI as a new type of rice. Golden Rice is said to contain beta carotene, a source of vitamin A, which would solve deficiency among malnourished children.

The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) ran field testing of this variety in Camarines Sur, which was recently uprooted by MASIPAG farmers in protest of GMOs.

The Golden Rice was developed by Ingo Potrykus in Zurich and Peter Beyer Germany from 1991 to 2000, and bought by Syngenta.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation backed its food testing for US$ 10 million.

But the Golden Rice variety faces criticisms. In his presentation, Medina said it has not undergone pre-testing to animals and some testing to humans, or any other safety assessment.

He further said that there is danger in genetic engineering crops as it is “so uncontrollable that each event from single experiment of the same materials results to different variety with unpredictable properties.”

Medina warned that the Golden Rice is a “Trojan Horse to create acceptability of GM crops and food, and the image of biotech corporations is recast as philanthropic and humanitarian.”

Medina said the problem of Vitamin A deficiency could be addressed by many food sources such as leafy vegetables, carrots, sweet potato and leaves, goat liver, palm oil, and melon.

He said this shows that organic farming provides all the natural benefits to address nutrition concerns.

He further said organic farming also solves “food security and sovereignty not dictated by MNCs, but rather by sound practices of farmers.”

By Tyrone A. Velez
Davao Today

INDIA: Farmers bodies oppose SC panel recommendations on GM crops

Farmers bodies oppose SC panel recommendations on GM crops

Five member TEC appointed by SC has recently recommended a moratorium on field trials for GM crops

Various farmers organisations, including CIFA, today opposed recommendations of a Supreme Court appointed committee to ban field trials of GM crops, saying the farming community needs biotechnology for progress.

The five-member technical expert committee (TEC), which was appointed by the Supreme Court, has recently recommended a moratorium on field trials for GM (genetically Modified) crops.

"GM crop offers several solutions to farmers problems. We need biotechnology and the right to choose and freedom to farm. "Consortium of Indian Farming Associations (CIFA) Secretary General Chengal Reddy said in a statement.

Reddy was addressing a farmers rally at Jantar Mantar which was organised to protest against TEC recommendations and demand latest technologies in Indian agriculture.

The protest was led by CIFA and was participated by Shetkari Sanghatana, PAU Kisan Club, Naujawan Kisan Club, Nagarjuna Rythu Samakhya, Pratapa Rudra Farmers Mutually Aided Coop Credit & Marketing Federation, amongst other leading farmer organizations.

"It would be unfair to deny India's farmers the benefits of biotechnology, and it would be unfair to the nation to prevent its farmlands from prospering more," Punjab Agricultural University Kisan Club Secretary PS Pangli said.

Reprsentatives of the farmers organisations added that farmers should have the right to choose seeds, and the use of biotech crop is a solution to meet the growing food demand in limited natural resources in the coming years.

Meanwhile, eminent scientists have also appealed to the Supreme Court not to accept the recommendations of five member TEC.

"The TEC has chosen to mischievously mislead the court on GM crops. The committee has deliberately overlooked the opinions of leading scientific organisations in the world and in India, and hundreds of peer reviewed scientific publications," said Shanthu Shantharam of Biosafety Institute of Iowa State University.

PTI

GM food admirer slams Jairam Ramesh for Bt Brinjal move

British environmental activist Mark Lynas, who once "demonised" geneticially modified crops and now campaigns for their cause, blames Jairam Ramesh for being "cynical" and "politically opportunist" and setting back India's progress in biotechnology when he was environment minister. 

After years of being a central figure in Greenpeace's anti-GM campaign, Lynas says he realised that opposition was not based on science. In a similar vein, he argues that in India, it was politics, and not any other consideration, that derailed the commercial adoption of Bt Brinjal during Ramesh's tenure in the ministry. 
This decision prevented adoption of other GM food crops, denying the country an important technological option that could have been used to benefit the environment and address food security, he said. "Moratorium on Bt brinjal, for example, came not as a result of any scientific analysis or data, but because of a myopic decision made by a single, very cynical and politically opportunist government minister. 
Bt Brinjal was approved by the regulator and by six academies of science. That debate should have been over, but it came up against bad politics. That is the only issue here, not the scientific, health or environmental or any other issue," Lynas said. 
In February 2010, after rounds of intensive public consultations, Ramesh announced an open-ended moratorium on the release of Bt brinjal until independent scientific studies establish that the product is safe. The moratorium was limited to the commercial trials for Mahyco's Bt brinjal variety using Cry1Ac gene. 
Trials of other varieties of Bt Brinjal by the Indian Institute of Horticulture Research, Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi were not put on hold. Lynas was effusive in his praise for Chidambaram Subramaniam, who as agriculture minister oversaw the green revolution. 
"We need leaders who stand up for science and for evidence-based policymaking, and are prepared to lead from the front, like former agriculture minister Subramanian, who had welcomed Borlaug into India in 1964 despite opposition from traditionalists and the rest of the cabinet....Had those with the leadership skills of Jairam Ramesh been in charge in 1964, the door would have been slammed in Borlaug's face, there would have been no Green Revolution, and India might still be starving today." 
Ironically, despite his stressing on science as the cornerstone of progress, Lynas' praise doesn't extend to MS Swaminathan, the scientist involved in making Green Revolution a reality in India. Perhaps, because Swaminathan was one of those who supported the moratorium on Bt Brinjal. 
"There are unquestionable benefits in the short term, but also potential risks to human health and our brinjal heritage in the long term... What will be the impact of numerous local strains?... Such a collection must be carefully preserved, before we permit the extinction of the gifts of thousands of years of natural evolution and human selection," Swaminathan said while making a case against the commercial introduction of Bt brinjal. Eco. Times

Pro-Genetically Modified farmers to demonstrate today

INDIA

Pro-Genetically Modified farmers to demonstrate today

Amid an intense public debate over the impact of Genetically Modified (GM) crops on health and environment, thousands of farmers from across the country will demonstrate in the Capital on Thursday in support of increased application of bio-technology to meet the foodgrain demand for a growing population.

The farmers will make the pitch for GM food days after thousands of anti-GM crops activists appealed to the government not to allow even field trials of genetically engineered crops in India.

The activists also wanted the government to withdraw the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill which, they believe, would facilitate commercial use of GM crops in India through a single-window clearance.

However, the farmers who will assemble at Jantar Mantar under the banner of the Consortium of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA) and the Shetkari Sanghatana will try to impress upon the government how genetically modified foods are being used successfully in many countries like the US, Canada, Brazil and Argentina without any sign of an adverse impact on health of consumers.

Dismissing the anti-GM crops debate as dominated by fear and prejudice, P Chengal Reddy, secretary general of the CIFA, said, "We have decided to make people aware of the importance of bio-technology in agriculture and expose the duplicity of both political leadership and NGOs who have been opposed to it without any evidence".

Reddy said the farmers' organizations would also try to convince the policy makers, arguing how the technology is needed not only to increase productivity but also make farming attractive to poor farmers who have to live in abject poverty in absence of any support from government or private agencies through investment in the agriculture sector.

Many anti-GM crops organizations including Greenpeace have, however, strong reservation against the use of genetically modified food. They have, over the years, put forward arguments and scientific findings, forcing the government to tread cautiously in this area. But the pro-GM campaigners point out that safety issues can be settled only by science rather than a apprehensions that have not fully been tested.

Rajesh Krishnan, co-convenor of the Coalition for GM Free India, said individual genes as well as the genetic engineering process are known to create a lot of adverse health and environmental impacts, as documented in scientific studies all over the world.

The Coalition will, in fact, on Friday submit a memorandum comprising over three lakh signed petitions to T Subbarami Reddy - the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee of science & technology and environment & forest - asking him to suggest the government to withdraw the controversial BRAI Bill. The parliamentary panel is currently reviewing the Bill which was introduced in Lok Sabha in April. TIMES

India: With apex court set to resume hearing, GM groups spar

With apex court set to resume hearing, GM groups spar

With the Supreme Court resuming the hearing on the public interest litigation on genetically modified organisms on Friday, scientists and organisations which support and oppose genetical engineering in agriculture have stepped up their campaign.

A group of scientists from India and abroad have appealed to the Supreme Court to reject the recommendations of the five-member Technical Expert Committee.

They termed the committee’s recommendations prejudiced and alleged that they considered information from sources that supported its point of view.

The committee has called for a halt on GM field trials in the country till the regulatory issues are addressed. The scientific community is divided over the issue, putting forth their voices for and against the TEC recommendations.

In an appeal to the apex court, the pro-GM scientists argued that the committee’s suggestion was against the established mainstream science on GM crops’ safety and utility.

“The five members have completely overlooked overwhelming scientific literature that clearly establishes the safety and utility of GM crops under the field conditions. It is tragic that the committee has completely lost scientific objectivity by drawing heavily from the discarded international agricultural assessment that has not been accepted by even a single country in the world,” they argued. “The committee has deliberately overlooked the opinions of leading scientific organisations in the world and in India, and hundreds of peer reviewed scientific publications,” Shanthu Shantharam, Biosafety Institute of the Iowa State University, said in the appeal.

ANTI GM CAMAPAIGN

Meanwhile, The Coalition for a GM-free India, the scientific community that is opposing the introduction of GM in crops, said that the committee members submitted a unanimous report to the Court, reiterating and substantiating their main recommendations in the Interim Report in October 2012.

“A sixth member inducted into the committee, who also happens to carry a conflict of interest in the committee (his organisation is funded by biotech majors), has given his report separately in a sealed envelope the contents of which have not been revealed so far,” Rajesh Krishnan, Co-Convenor of Coalition for GM Free India, said.

“We have written to the court, explaining his conflict of interest in the issue,” he said. HBL