Post Tagged with: "GMO"

Supreme Court Deserves Praise but Government Stand on GM Crops Evokes Great Concern

Supreme Court Deserves Praise but Government Stand on GM Crops Evokes Great Concern

Those who understand the terrible implications of the onslaught of the GM lobby (genetically modified food and crops lobby) on Indian farming and farmers and are devoted to protecting India’s farmers and farming from this onslaught had reason to be both happy and sad this week ( August-end) Happy because the Supreme Court acted with so much wisdom and firmness[Read More…]

by 31/08/2023 Comments are Disabled India
Science and Public Interest Halt the Push for GM Crops in India: Approval by Contamination? 

Science and Public Interest Halt the Push for GM Crops in India: Approval by Contamination? 

Between 1991 and 2016, the population of Delhi and its suburbs increased from 9.4 million to 25 million. In 2023, the World Population Review website estimates Delhi’s population to be 32.9 million. In the December 2016 paper Future urban land expansion and implications for global croplands, it was projected that by 2030, globally, urban areas will have tripled in size,[Read More…]

by 03/08/2023 Comments are Disabled India
Worldwide Support Needed to Strengthen Mexico Government and People’s Efforts to Keep Away GM Corn

Worldwide Support Needed to Strengthen Mexico Government and People’s Efforts to Keep Away GM Corn

The government and people of Mexico have been involved in a struggle for several years to protect their staple food corn from serious health and environmental hazards linked strongly with imports of GM (genetically modified) corn and contamination of local corn with GM corn. However they and their protective efforts face the deep opposition of their neighbor and superpower the[Read More…]

by 24/07/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Eminent Scientists Have Exposed Very Serious Hazards of GM Crops

Eminent Scientists Have Exposed Very Serious Hazards of GM Crops

As the issues of food safety and health hazards are extremely important, many people are very keen to know the reality of GM (genetically modified) crops but they feel confused by the fact that while on the one hand many scientific papers warn about the very serious risks of these crops, other papers associate these crops with several virtues. Such[Read More…]

by 23/07/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Why Increase Trials When Due to Serious Inherent Problems GM Crops Should Be Banned

Why Increase Trials When Due to Serious Inherent Problems GM Crops Should Be Banned

 There is increasing and overwhelming evidence of the many-sided serious adverse impacts and dangers of GM (genetically modified) crops. To give an example, a review by eminent Indian scientist Dr. Pushpa M. Bhargava, who had earlier been appointed by the Supreme Court of India to advise on this issue, had revealed that almost all research papers on this subject that[Read More…]

by 15/06/2023 Comments are Disabled India
Shocking Corruption and Violation of Ethics in Regulatory Work Concerning GM Crops

Shocking Corruption and Violation of Ethics in Regulatory Work Concerning GM Crops

While several reputed scientists of great integrity have consistently spoken against GM (genetically modified) crops and a lot of evidence regarding their harmful impacts has accumulated, one argument that has been often used to still promote their spread is that after all GM crops have been spread the most widely in the USA, and so there must have been some[Read More…]

by 11/06/2023 Comments are Disabled World
GM Crops Likely to Worsen Climate Change Related Problems for Farmers

GM Crops Likely to Worsen Climate Change Related Problems for Farmers

 The shadow of climate change related problems hangs heavy over most farmers as they struggle increasingly against unexpected weather conditions, extreme weather events and disasters. In such conditions it is very important for government policy to avoid any changes that can aggravate such difficulties and problems faced by farmers. Hence it is very unfortunate to see some authorities bent upon[Read More…]

by 30/05/2023 Comments are Disabled Climate Change
Genetically Modified Animals Bring New Risks and Uncertainties

Genetically Modified Animals Bring New Risks and Uncertainties

As though the havoc created by GM crops was not adequate, several experimental efforts relating to genetically modified or engineered animals are bringing a wide range of new risks and uncertainties. These include health hazards relating to transfer of diseases from genetically engineered animals to normal animals as well as to human beings. In addition there are the additional risks[Read More…]

by 19/03/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Turning Healthy Food into Disease Causing Food—The Case of GM Corn

Turning Healthy Food into Disease Causing Food—The Case of GM Corn

 In India maize or corn has been traditionally known as a nutritious and tasty food crop grown predominantly on small family farms. It is relished in the form of mainly home baked rotis. In addition corn on cob heated on simmering fire is also a highly enjoyable food, particularly during rainy season.  Similarly maize has been cherished in many cultures[Read More…]

by 18/02/2023 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
Indian Mustard shall be protected from the onslaught of GM mustard: Citizens across India

Indian Mustard shall be protected from the onslaught of GM mustard: Citizens across India

“Safe Food Week” being marked all over the country this week Delhi, February 9th 2023: National Safe Food Day was marked widely all over the country today, on the day when Bt brinjal was placed under an indefinite moratorium in 2010. Citizens were seeking to remind Government of India about this pro-people, pro-nature decision that was taken by the then[Read More…]

by 09/02/2023 Comments are Disabled India
GM-Free India challenges government to come out with evidence on GM Mustard

GM-Free India challenges government to come out with evidence on GM Mustard

“Union Environment Ministry’s response vindicates our evidence and pointers on serious regulatory compromises in India’s appraisal and approval of GM mustard”: Coalition “Govt. should respond to each point with evidence, if regulatory processes were indeed correct and robust – we challenge the Ministry to do so” New Delhi, January 8th 2023: In a brief reply put out today, the Coalition[Read More…]

by 08/01/2023 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
Violations of Regulatory Processes Relating to GM Crops Exposed Again in the Context of GM Mustard

Violations of Regulatory Processes Relating to GM Crops Exposed Again in the Context of GM Mustard

As the many-sided risks and harms of GM crops are so serious, obvious and well-established, it is only to be expected that any completely unbiased appraisal and regulatory system will not allow their approval and spread. Hence it is an important part of the big business agenda of dominating world food and farming via GM crops to weaken the appraisal[Read More…]

by 07/01/2023 Comments are Disabled World
India’s GM Mustard: An Increasingly Bitter Taste 

India’s GM Mustard: An Increasingly Bitter Taste 

In a fair world, Aruna Rodrigues would be heralded as an incredible individual for her ongoing struggle to protect the socio-economic and environmental integrity of India. So says respected environmentalist, author and campaigner Leo Saldanha. He adds: “Since 2005, she has tirelessly pursued a public interest litigation before the Supreme Court of India, in which she has made a case[Read More…]

by 05/01/2023 Comments are Disabled India
Gag-order to obstruct scientific opinion on GM crops is anti-science, new directive needed

Gag-order to obstruct scientific opinion on GM crops is anti-science, new directive needed

In a recent press release the director general of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) explained various issues relating to GM mustard approval. He also issued orders against presenting opinion or writing articles, different from the stated documentation and decisions made by the regulators, on the subject by serving or former officials. Since then several persons well-informed on this[Read More…]

by 29/12/2022 Comments are Disabled India
GM Crops–How Science Has Been Suppressed To Promote Big Business Interests

GM Crops–How Science Has Been Suppressed To Promote Big Business Interests

Many eminent scientists who have examined the technology of genetically engineered (GE) or genetically modified (GM) crops have come to a clear conclusion that it is a highly hazardous and risky technology. To give just one example, eminent scientists from several countries who comprise the Independent Science Panel (ISP) have drawn this conclusion after studying various aspects of GM crops,[Read More…]

by 15/12/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Protecting Brinjal from piracy at a time when MoEF&CC dilutes biodiversity laws

Protecting Brinjal from piracy at a time when MoEF&CC dilutes biodiversity laws

by Sachin P S &  Nidhi Hanji[1] The term ‘piracy’ is often invoked when creative works are copied and distributed without permission of the rightful and original owner of the work. Global and Indian laws prevent such piracy. Similarly, the illegal accessing, appropriation and commodification of sovereign biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge, as also genetic modification of bioresources in such[Read More…]

by 13/12/2022 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
Threat of Genetic Contamination Highlighted in Supreme Court of India

Threat of Genetic Contamination Highlighted in Supreme Court of India

The extremely serious issue of the threat of genetic contamination caused by genetically modified or engineered (GM or GE) crops finally reached the Supreme Court of India on November 30 in the context of on-going cases relating to the introduction of GM Mustard in India. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, after pointing out the serious implications of this risk in a country[Read More…]

by 04/12/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Who Needs or Wants GMOs? Not the Public, Not India’s Farmers   

Who Needs or Wants GMOs? Not the Public, Not India’s Farmers   

Many scientists lobbying for the deregulation of agricultural biotechnology ‘new genomic techniques’ (NGTs) in the European Union have either direct or indirect interests in commercialising and marketing new genetically modified organisms (GMOs). They have patents or patent applications or other connections to the seed industry. That is the conclusion of a September 2022 investigatory report commissioned by the Greens/EFA in[Read More…]

by 03/12/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Supreme Court Raises Extremely Important Questions on GM Mustard

Supreme Court Raises Extremely Important Questions on GM Mustard

On December 1, in the on-going case relating to objections raised against the introduction of the first GM (genetically modified) food crop in the form of GM Mustard in India, the Supreme Court raised some important questions. As reported in The Times of India (December 2, 2022), “A bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and BV Nagarathna told Attorney General R.Venkataramani,[Read More…]

by 03/12/2022 Comments are Disabled India
The Strange Case of USA Lobbyists Pushing Unsafe GM Food on Others

The Strange Case of USA Lobbyists Pushing Unsafe GM Food on Others

    Suppose there is a restaurant in your locality which is notorious for serving unsafe food. Of course you feel very bad about this, but not exactly threatened as you have the option of not consuming its food and also warning your friends not to do so. But supposing the restaurant has such high-level connections that it acquires the[Read More…]

by 27/11/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Reimagining Food, Farming and Humanity: Ecomodernism’s Dystopia  

Reimagining Food, Farming and Humanity: Ecomodernism’s Dystopia  

“Ecomodernists offer no solutions to contemporary problems other than technical innovation and further integration into private markets which are structured systematically by centralized state power in favour of the wealthy… ” – Chris Smaje In 2017, the then Monsanto Chief Technology Officer Robb Fraley argued that his company made a mistake in not reaching out to the public about genetically modified organisms[Read More…]

by 17/11/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Bt cotton– Farmers Burdened With Expensive, Dependence Increasing, More Pest Susceptible Varieties

Bt cotton– Farmers Burdened With Expensive, Dependence Increasing, More Pest Susceptible Varieties

During the last two decades the experiences of over 7 million cotton growing farmers in India, the world’s highest producer of cotton, has changed drastically as a diversity of cotton varieties have been replaced to the extent of perhaps over 90 per cent by genetically engineered Bt cotton varieties like Bollgard I and Bollgard II. This change was widely promoted[Read More…]

by 16/11/2022 Comments are Disabled India
There Are High Hopes from Judiciary to Check Onslaught of GM Food Crops in India

There Are High Hopes from Judiciary to Check Onslaught of GM Food Crops in India

Since mid-October there has been widespread concern regarding hurried introduction of GM (genetically modified) food crops in India due to the approval of a GM/HT (herbicide tolerant) mustard crop by a regulating agency. Hence there was a feeling of great relief on November 3 when the Supreme Court of India asked the government to maintain the status quo and not[Read More…]

by 07/11/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Hurried introduction of GM food crops in India will be unscientific, undemocratic and unacceptably risky

Hurried introduction of GM food crops in India will be unscientific, undemocratic and unacceptably risky

Some recent statements that have appeared in media indicate that there is a lot of pressure for very hurried introduction of genetically modified mustard crop after its approval by a regulating agency GEAC. Even the fact that on such an important matter the final government decision should be awaited has not been considered by GM lobbyists and pressure groups. In[Read More…]

by 04/11/2022 Comments are Disabled India
India’s GM Mustard and the 30-Year Path to Food Tyranny  

India’s GM Mustard and the 30-Year Path to Food Tyranny  

A public interest litigation is currently before India’s Supreme Court which challenges the drive to commercialise the growing of genetically modified (GM) mustard in India. On 26 October 2022, however, the country’s apex regulatory body – the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee – sanctioned commercialisation of the crop. The central government has in the past stated commercialisation will not go ahead[Read More…]

by 28/10/2022 Comments are Disabled India
GM Crops including Mustard Aimed at Pushing Corporate Domination at the Cost of Grave Harm to Farmers, Food and Health

GM Crops including Mustard Aimed at Pushing Corporate Domination at the Cost of Grave Harm to Farmers, Food and Health

Recent times have witnessed constant constant lobbying by very powerful corporate interest lobbies for the introduction of GM (genetically modified) crops and technology in India. These corporate interests have been promoting GM technology and GE (genetic engineering) technology in food and farming which has been exposed by eminent experts to be extremely harmful for food, health and farmers and useful[Read More…]

by 28/10/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Agri Biotech Sector Motivated by Monopoly Control and Sacred GMO Cash Cow 

Agri Biotech Sector Motivated by Monopoly Control and Sacred GMO Cash Cow 

We are currently seeing rising food prices due to a combination of an engineered food crisis for geopolitical reasons, financial speculation by hedge funds, pension funds and investment banks and profiteering by global grain trade conglomerates like Cargill, Louis Dreyfus, ADM and Bunge. In addition, agri firms like Bayer, Syngenta (ChemChina) and Corteva cynically regard current circumstances as an opportunity[Read More…]

by 25/10/2022 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
162 Doctors Express Serious Concerns About GM Foods in India

162 Doctors Express Serious Concerns About GM Foods in India

In recent weeks several groups which have been active on food safety issues have expressed  concens about the serious health hazards involved in the increased possibility of introduction of imported or domestic GM foods in India. These concerns have been also related to the process of creating a regulatory framework by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).[Read More…]

by 04/02/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Why it is important today to recall the democratic processes which led to the moratorium on Bt brinjal

Why it is important today to recall the democratic processes which led to the moratorium on Bt brinjal

At a time when there is widespread apprehension regarding high-power efforts to weaken regulations which have by and large sought to keep away GM foods from India, it will be useful to recall the widely appreciated and admired democratic process during the days of the  UPA government which had led to a decision being taken to safeguard the food safety[Read More…]

by 10/01/2022 Comments are Disabled India
GM Food With Its Serious Health Hazards Should Never be Approved in India

GM Food With Its Serious Health Hazards Should Never be Approved in India

 Recently the Coalition for GM-Free Agriculture in India has expressed serious concern regarding the new regulations being framed and discussed for regulating GM food as these are leaving wide gaps regarding food safety as well as feed safety. There is concern particularly regarding import of processed GM food. The consultations are being done very hurriedly without giving adequate chance for[Read More…]

by 10/01/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Govt of India’s decision to import GM soymeal into India patently illegal

Govt of India’s decision to import GM soymeal into India patently illegal

New Delhi, August 27th 2021: The Coalition for a GM-Free India, a civil society platform that had been in the forefront of struggles against hazardous gene technologies being deployed in India, has termed the decision of Government of India to import GM soymeal as patently illegal. “It is a case of regulators abdicating their legally mandated responsibilities, and subjecting citizens[Read More…]

by 27/08/2021 Comments are Disabled India
Serious Threat to Food and Farming – GM Lobby Plans New Offensive With Gene Edited Crops

Serious Threat to Food and Farming – GM Lobby Plans New Offensive With Gene Edited Crops

            As these are increasing warnings of distinguished scientists against Genetically Modified (GM) crops, the strong GM lobby led by some of the biggest corporate interests (who are bent on dominating world food system using GM technology) is now using several tricks to find a way past these warnings based on growing scientific evidence against GM crops. Dr. Pushpa M.[Read More…]

by 03/11/2020 1 comment Environmental Protection
 Bt Cotton in India is a GMO Template for a ‘monumental irreversible catastrophe’

 Bt Cotton in India is a GMO Template for a ‘monumental irreversible catastrophe’

Cotton is the only genetically modified (GM) crop that has been officially approved in India and has been cultivated (illegally then legally) in the country for more than 20 years. Although GM mustard has been approved for commercial cultivation by India’s apex regulatory body for GM crops (the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, GEAC), a public interest litigation led by Aruna[Read More…]

by 29/09/2020 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
 From Cotton to Brinjal: Fraudulent GMO Project in India Sustained by Deception

 From Cotton to Brinjal: Fraudulent GMO Project in India Sustained by Deception

Insecticidal Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton is the first and only GM (genetically modified) crop that has been approved in India. It has been cultivated in the country for more than 20 years. In a formal statement to the Supreme Court of India, the Indian government has asserted that hybrid Bt cotton is an outstanding success. It therefore argues that Bt[Read More…]

by 29/08/2020 1 comment India
Pushing GMO Crops Into India: Experts Debunk High-Level Claims of Bt Cotton Success

Pushing GMO Crops Into India: Experts Debunk High-Level Claims of Bt Cotton Success

On 6 July 2020, an article extolling the benefits of genetically modified (GM) crops appeared on the BloombergQuint website based on an interview with Dr Ramesh Chand, a member of the key Indian Government think tank Niti Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) . On 17 July, another piece that placed a positive spin on GM crops and gene editing[Read More…]

by 09/08/2020 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
 GMO Agriculture and the Narrative of Choice

 GMO Agriculture and the Narrative of Choice

The pro-GMO lobby claim critics of the technology ‘deny farmers choice’. They say that farmers should have access to a range of tools and technologies. It is all about maximising choice and options. Taken at face value, who would want to deny choice? At the same time, however, we do not want to end up offering a false choice (rolling[Read More…]

Offshoring Indian Agriculture: Is India Becoming a GMO Trash Can?

Offshoring Indian Agriculture: Is India Becoming a GMO Trash Can?

The regulatory system for GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in India is in tatters. So said the Coalition for a GMFree India (CGMFI) in 2017 after media reports about the illegal cultivation of GM soybean in the country. In India, five high-level reports have already advised against the adoption of GM crops: The ‘Jairam Ramesh Report’, imposing an indefinite moratorium on Bt Brinjal [Feb 2010]; The ‘Sopory[Read More…]

Monsanto, Bayer And Neoliberalism: A Case of Hobson’s Choice

Monsanto, Bayer And Neoliberalism: A Case of Hobson’s Choice

A Bayer marketing professional recently stated on Twitter that critics of GMOs deny choice to farmers. It’s a common accusation by the pro-GMO lobby. In a previous article, I noted the idea that GMOs offer increased choice is erroneous and that, by implication, corporations like Bayer or Monsanto restrict options. Much evidence suggests that GMOs provide a false choice. However, to[Read More…]

GMOs, Global Agribusiness And The Destruction of Choice

GMOs, Global Agribusiness And The Destruction of Choice

  One of the myths perpetuated by the pro-GMO (genetically modified organisms) lobby is that critics of GMOs in agriculture are denying choice to farmers and have an ideological agenda. The narrative is that farmers should have access to a range of tools and technologies, including GM crops. Before addressing this issue, we should remind ourselves that GMOs have been[Read More…]

India Now!

India Now!

K.P Sasi is a film maker, writer, activist and cartoonist. He can be reached at kpsasi36@gmail.com

Prominent Lawyer Prashant Bhushan Urges Indian Government to Stop Commercialisation of GM Mustard 

Prominent Lawyer Prashant Bhushan Urges Indian Government to Stop Commercialisation of GM Mustard 

The environment ministry in India will make the final call after the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee recently gave a positive recommendation for the commercial cultivation of GM mustard. Whether the crop is commercially cultivated could depend on the Supreme Court, which is hearing a case seeking a moratorium on its commercial release. The government has stated it will abide by[Read More…]

Enemy of Reason: Behind the Mask of Pro-GMO Neoliberal Ideology

Enemy of Reason: Behind the Mask of Pro-GMO Neoliberal Ideology

Professor Shanthu Shantharam recently wrote a response to Viva Kermani’s well thought out article about injecting some honesty into the debate about genetically modified (GM) food and crops. Both pieces appeared the Indian publication Swarajya. Shantharam’s response is typical of what we have come to expect from him: a mixture of abuse, personal attacks and gross misrepresentation of both issues and facts. He says of Kermani’s[Read More…]

Organic Vs Industrial Chemical-Dependent Agriculture: Philosophies And Practices

Organic Vs Industrial Chemical-Dependent Agriculture: Philosophies And Practices

What follows is a summary of this article, ‘A System of Food Production for Human Need, Not Corporate Greed’, and is a preamble to something that was recently forwarded to me by Emeritus Professor Stuart B. Hill, Foundation Chair of Social Ecology, School of Education, Western Sydney University. In 2007, as part of a requested submission to the International Assessment of Agricultural[Read More…]

Message to John Beddington and the Oxford Martin Commission: A System of Food and Agriculture Should Serve the Public, Not Corporate Interests

Message to John Beddington and the Oxford Martin Commission: A System of Food and Agriculture Should Serve the Public, Not Corporate Interests

Sir John Beddington is Senior Advisor and Professor of Natural Resources Management at the Oxford Martin School in Oxford, UK. He also belongs to the Central Team of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations (OMC) and is former Chief Scientific Adviser to the British government and Head of the Government Office for Science. Bringing together international leaders from government, business and[Read More…]

Photo by MDGLillehammer

Pro-GMO Scientists Blinded By Technology And Wedded To Ideology

The Oxford Martin School is based at Oxford University in the UK and has set up the ‘Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations’ (OMC). Bringing together international leaders from government, business and civil society, the OMC aims to address the growing short-term preoccupations of modern politics and business and identify ways of overcoming today’s gridlock in key international negotiations. The OMC’s website says[Read More…]

Softening-Up The UK Public For GM: Monsanto And Former UK Civil Servant Deal In PR, Not Science And Objective Debate

Softening-Up The UK Public For GM: Monsanto And Former UK Civil Servant Deal In PR, Not Science And Objective Debate

On the back of Brexit, the UK government is planning what could be a disastrous trade deal with the Trump administration. It would likely be worse than the secretive and undemocratic stalled Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal that the EU has been planning with the US. As for food and agriculture, such a trade deal would be contingent on[Read More…]

GM Mustard Case Returns To Court In India

GM Mustard Case Returns To Court In India

This week, India’s Supreme Court will hear the next installment of the case brought by Aruna Rodrigues to stop the commercial release of genetically modified mustard.  The Government of India is attempting to push through the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) food crops. In an attempt to spearhead the drive by making GM mustard the first such crop in[Read More…]

Monsanto’s Communications Guru To Visit The UK: Instead Of Promoting GM, Take Responsibility For Your Company’s Actions In Wales

Monsanto’s Communications Guru To Visit The UK: Instead Of Promoting GM, Take Responsibility For Your Company’s Actions In Wales

   Monsanto is preparing a fresh effort to promote genetically modified (GM) crops to the UK public, according to a piece in The Scottish Farmer. The article notes the company recently appointed former World Bank communications strategist Vance Crowe as its ‘Director of Millenial Engagement’, a job that involves convincing the public about the benefits of GM. In March, Vance will[Read More…]

Development And India: Why GM Mustard Really Matters 

Development And India: Why GM Mustard Really Matters 

  The push to commercialise the growing of genetically modified (GM) mustard in India is currently held up in court due to a lawsuit by Aruna Rodrigues. The next hearing is due in February. Rodrigues has indicated at length that, to date, procedures and tests have been corrupted by fraudulent practices, conflicts of interests and gross regulatory delinquency. Dr Deepak[Read More…]

All Is Not Well With  Indian GM Mustard

All Is Not Well With  Indian GM Mustard

                            Recently Ministry of  Environment, Forestry and  Climate change  has placed on its web site  the  review report on assessment of  food and environmental safety  of  Genetically modified mustard  seeking public  comments. Genetically modified mustard hybrid developed by   a team of  scientists  from Delhi University, the first GM[Read More…]

Lower Yields And Agropoisons: What Is The Point Of GM Mustard In India?   

Lower Yields And Agropoisons: What Is The Point Of GM Mustard In India?   

The decision whether to allow the commercialisation of the first genetically modified (GM) food crop (mustard) in India rumbles on. As I have previously discussed here, the bottom line is government collusion over GM crop technology (that is not wanted and not needed) with transnational agribusiness, which is trying to hide in the background. The real story behind GM mustard in India[Read More…]

Seeds Of Occupation: India’s Stockholm Syndrome

Seeds Of Occupation: India’s Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon described in 1973 in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors. Wikipedia In political terms, most people might tend to associate the word ’occupation’ with a (foreign) military presence that controls a region or country. Any such[Read More…]

Bayer’s Trojan Horse: Criminal Prosecution Required To Stop GM Food Crops Fraudulently Entering India

Bayer’s Trojan Horse: Criminal Prosecution Required To Stop GM Food Crops Fraudulently Entering India

The decision whether to allow the commercialisation of the first genetically modified (GM) food crop (mustard) in India is close. Serious conflicts of interest, sleight of hand and regulatory delinquency – not to mention outright fraud – could mean the decision coming down in favour of commercialisation. The bottom line is government collusion with transnational agribusiness, which is trying to[Read More…]

“The Dead Cannot Make A Comeback” – Is India About To Make A Catastrophic Mistake With GM Mustard?

“The Dead Cannot Make A Comeback” – Is India About To Make A Catastrophic Mistake With GM Mustard?

Global oilseed, agribusiness and biotech corporations are engaged in a long-term attack on India’s local cooking oil producers. In just 20 years, they have reduced India from self-sufficiency in cooking oil to importing half its needs. Now the government’s attempts to impose GM mustard seed threaten to wipe out a crop at the root of Indian food and farming traditions. In[Read More…]

by 20/09/2016 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
Monsanto And The Poisonous Cartel Of GMOs In India

Monsanto And The Poisonous Cartel Of GMOs In India

India is steeped in a synthesized controversy created by Monsanto on the first GMO crop supposedly approved for commercialization. Engaged in litigation on many fronts, Monsanto is trying to subvert India’s patent laws: Protection of Plant Variety and Farmers Right Act, Essential Commodities Act and Competition Act. It is behaving as if there is no Parliament, no democracy, no sovereign[Read More…]

Photo by MDGLillehammer

Genetically Engineered Promises & Farming Realities

The biggest problem with genetic engineering in agriculture is that it runs completely against the grain of sustainable agriculture. It separates the domain of science from the domain of farming community. It externalizes everything that was internal to the communities and formed the basis of sustainability: seeds, manure, pest control and more than anything, community knowledge of agriculture. Biotechnology in[Read More…]

by 21/08/2016 1 comment Environmental Protection
Media Silence And The Agrochemicals Industry: The Slow Poisoning Of Health And The Environment  

Media Silence And The Agrochemicals Industry: The Slow Poisoning Of Health And The Environment  

It’s an all too common tale of dirty deeds, shady deals and propaganda. Rosemary Mason’s recent open letter to journalists at The Guardian outlines how the media is failing the public by not properly reporting on the regulatory delinquency relating to GM food and the harmful chemicals being applied to crops. Much of the media is even (unwittingly) acting as[Read More…]

The Key Haven trial would run for between six and 22 months and the company said it could release anywhere from 20 to 100 GMO mosquitoes per person on the island. (Photo: stevenw12339/cc/flickr)

Amid Zika Scare, FDA Clears Way For GMO Mosquito Trial In Florida

In a move that public health advocates are calling “irresponsible and frightening,” the U.S. Food and Drug Association on Friday cleared the experimental release of genetically modified mosquitoes in Key Haven, Florida. Pivoting off of the recent news that there is an outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus that has infected over a dozen people in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, the[Read More…]

In the Shadow Of Monsanto: GMO Regulation And The Right To Know

In the Shadow Of Monsanto: GMO Regulation And The Right To Know

The GMO agritech sector and food companies have spent tens of millions of dollars in the US to prevent the labelling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The public have genuine concerns about GM but are being denied the right to know if GMOs are in the food they eat. And the concerns they have are valid. There is sufficient evidence[Read More…]

Avoid ‘Miracle’ Rice, Just Eat A Carrot!

Avoid ‘Miracle’ Rice, Just Eat A Carrot!

 Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution, died on September 9, 2009. Alfred G. Gilman died on December 23, 2015. Both were Nobel laureates and now both dead. Gilman was a signatory to a recent letter condemning Greenpeace and its opposition to genetic engineering. How many Nobel laureates does it take to write a letter? Easily ascertained—the dead Gilman and[Read More…]

Clinton Backs Monsanto’s Case  That To Be Anti Monsanto Is To Be Pro Global-Warming

Clinton Backs Monsanto’s Case  That To Be Anti Monsanto Is To Be Pro Global-Warming

  On June 27th, I reported Hillary Clinton’s having privately told GMO industry lobbyists, on 25 June 2014, that the federal government should subsidize GMO firms in order to enable them to buy “insurance against risk,” and that without such federal subsidies, “this [insurance] is going to be an increasing challenge” for the industry to afford. I also reported that,[Read More…]

by 07/07/2016 1 comment World
Back To The Future With Laverne And Shirley: The Trivialisation Of The GMO Debate

Back To The Future With Laverne And Shirley: The Trivialisation Of The GMO Debate

When people don’t possess sufficient expertise on matters, they require simplicity. They desire easily manageable packages of knowledge, and these packages become taken for granted stocks of ‘common sense’ that enable them to cope with or to understand the world around them, no matter how faulty or misrepresented that ‘knowledge’ may be. Powerful corporations and the media recognise people’s need[Read More…]

Pro-GMO Spin Masquerading As Science Courtesy Of “Shameful White Men Of Privilege”

Pro-GMO Spin Masquerading As Science Courtesy Of “Shameful White Men Of Privilege”

Unlike their predecessors, early 21st century missionaries do not come armed with bibles. They come as members of a scientific priesthood, spouting slick PR and are supported by the likes of Bill Gates, taxpayer ‘aid’ and the global agritech cartel and rely on the leverage of international institutions like the World Bank, IMF and WTO. More than 100 Nobel laureates have[Read More…]

Modi, Monsanto, Bayer And Cargill: Doing Business or Corporate Imperialism?  

Modi, Monsanto, Bayer And Cargill: Doing Business or Corporate Imperialism?  

Describing itself as a major ‘global communications, stakeholder engagement and business strategy’ company, APCO Worldwide is a lobby/PR agency with firm links to the Wall Street/corporate America establishment (arguably, part of it) and functions to serve its global agenda. India PM Narendra Modi turned to APCO to help transform his image and turn him into electable pro-corporate PM material. It also helped Modi[Read More…]

The Great Seed Piracy

The Great Seed Piracy

A great seed and biodiversity piracy is underway and it must be stopped. The privateers of today include not just the corporations — which are becoming fewer and larger through mergers — but also individuals like Bill Gates, the “richest man in the world”. When the Green Revolution was pushed in India and Mexico, farmers’ seeds were “rounded-up” and locked[Read More…]

GMOs, “Biggest Fraud In The History Of Science” – Some ‘Questions And Answers’ For The UK’s Royal Society

GMOs, “Biggest Fraud In The History Of Science” – Some ‘Questions And Answers’ For The UK’s Royal Society

The decision on whether to renew EU approval for the herbicide glyphosate is to go to an appeals panel on 23 June after a last ditch attempt to get a temporary re-authorisation failed on 6 June (for some background information, see this). It is unclear if the meeting will produce the majority vote needed to pass the authorisation. The current[Read More…]

by 18/06/2016 Comments are Disabled Environmental Protection
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