[Attachment(s)<http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&view=js&name=js&ver=ZZ4KpTfy1bY.en.&am=!Iec9iPCj39i5BXHCw_Iucuo0PfCH7k5epHcq2eFeQlIroA#12569243c6c6c209_TopText>from bharat mansata included below]
Dear All, Do please endorse this by writing to Kavitha (see below). *This is important *.* If we don't stop Bt Brinjal now, there are about 50 more GM crops following in the pipeline*, including rice, wheat, various millets (jowar,bajra, ragi), pulses, potato and other tubers, a number of vegetables and fruits, and several oilseeds. Please remember that GM has been rejected by sane people all over the world, and is banned in most of Europe. Barely 4 nations presently cover more than 90% of the gm crops sown globally. Apart from serious dangers to human, animal and environmental health, there is a grave imperialist design at work here. Already half the world's seed trade is in the hands of a few multinationals that are expanding aggressively. Monsanto makes no secret of its aim to control Indian agriculture through controlling seeds and other agro-inputs. Warm wishes, Bharat --- On *Mon, 12/7/09, Kavitha Kuruganti <kavitha.kuruga...@gmail.com>*wrote: From: Kavitha Kuruganti <kavitha.kuruga...@gmail.com> Subject: Urg. Axn: Endorse this ltr to PM/Sonia/Jairam on Bt Brinjal To: gmfreein...@googlegroups.com, gmfre...@googlegroups.com, swissaid-gmf...@googlegroups.com, hamarabeejbi...@googlegroups.com, iamnolabrat-de...@googlegroups.com, punjabeco-cri...@googlegroups.com, enviro-health-pun...@googlegroups.com, kics-agricult...@googlegroups.com, kicsfo...@googlegroups.com, "Kavitha Kuruganti" <kavitha_kuruga...@yahoo.com>, "Aruna Rodrigues" <aruna...@gmail.com> Date: Monday, December 7, 2009, 3:22 PM Dear friends, Many of you are following the Bt Brinjal Expert Committee Chairperson's interview to a national media channel, the other information on the objectionable presence of several members in the Expert Committee which makes us conclude that this Committee was rigged to approve Bt Brinjal, the fact the mandate of the EC2 was conveniently reshaped to favour Monsanto's Indian partner etc. etc. If you want to endorse the following letter to the PM, UPA Chair and MoEF, kindly send your full name, organisational affiliation or occupation/specialisation, city/town/village urgently to kavitha.kuruga...@gmail.com<http://us.mc508.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=kavitha.kuruga...@gmail.com>. *Endorsements will be collected upto December 11th 2009 to be sent on one letter that will go to these three people. *However, we also encourage you to write directly on your own letterheads too. *Please do write to kavitha.kuruga...@gmail.com<http://us.mc508.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=kavitha.kuruga...@gmail.com>if you are endorsing and please also pass this letter onwards to all your friends....* kavitha =================================================================================== To: Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India. Dear Dr Manmohan Singh, *Sub: BT BRINJAL CLEARANCE BY REGULATORS TO BE WITHDRAWN IMMEDIATELY* While we realize that Climate Change negotiations would be taking up the attention of the Government of India at this point of time, another equally important and urgent issue, that of Genetically Modified (GM) foods, cannot be ignored in the context of Indian regulators clearing Bt Brinjal for commercial cultivation, the first ever such GM vegetable in the world. This Bt Brinjal was recommended by an Expert Committee and further cleared by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) on October 14th 2009. 1. There is damning evidence now of how the Expert Committee on Bt Brinjal (EC2) has conveniently deviated from the mandate given to it to assess the safety of Bt Brinjal and how it has worked under the influence of political pressure and vested interests. The Chair of the EC2 had confessed to have been under “tremendous pressure from the Agriculture Minister, the GEAC and the industry” to approve Bt Brinjal and does not deny this in an interview to a national TV channel. Further, without any apparent processes run, the Terms of Reference of the Expert Committee were changed in favour of the commercial interests of Mahyco, the Indian partner of Monsanto. 2. There is a serious question mark on several members of the EC2 and their presence in this body which recommended Bt Brinjal. It is completely objectionable that such a Committee was set up to conclude on a very important aspect of our lives: that of the safety of a new food that we are all going to consume, that too without any mechanism by which one can distinguish Bt Brinjal from normal brinjal! A separate report is being sent to the PMO on this Expert Committee, its constitution and mandate. This leads us to one obvious conclusion: that this Committee was rigged and designed for only one outcome – that of approving Bt Brinjal, come what may. 3. The most damning evidence came out two days ago. The Chair of the EC2 admits in a media interview again that several tests on Bt Brinjal were not done and “without them, at this stage, we do not know whether Bt Brinjal is safe or not”. The Chairperson also says that *“**Genetically Engineered food products will not be equal to the non-genetically engineered food products. That's for sure. Now, how much damage, we do not know at this stage"! *This is a very serious admission indeed and the many voices of concerned citizens, scientists and activists stand vindicated with this. These views of the EC2 Chair not getting reflected in the report of this Committee shows yet again that pressure and vested interests were driving the EC2 report. 4. It is also very obvious that the Government of India is actively allowing the interference of American agencies in the regulatory regime of India in the form of at least two projects called Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II and South Asia Biosafety Program. The whole world knows by now how desperate the Americans are to sell GM seeds, food and feed to the world, having walked into it themselves in the mid-1990s and after facing overwhelming rejection by aware citizens in a majority of countries. The EC2 report and its recommendation is a classic example of the “systemic rigging” that the American government is indulging in, in the internal regulatory affairs of India, with the permission of the Indian government and this is simply unacceptable. To allow American interests to supercede the interests of common citizens of India is highly objectionable on the part of the Indian government. 5. Even as this letter is being sent, more reports are pouring in from states like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh about the problems that Bt Cotton is causing to the farms, farm families and livelihoods there as more farmers are committing suicides each day. It is shocking that the Indian government to this day did not investigate the various reports emerging from the ground pointing to soil, animal and human health impacts with Bt Cotton but has decided to walk towards a GM food crop despite much evidence that should advise it not to. 6. There is no liability, redressal and remediation regime in place in India with regard to GM crops and foods. We would like to know who is to be liable for all of negative outcomes that are in store, when the steamrollering on this front is happening despite adverse impacts emerging from the ground, from various studies, despite opposition from many state governments and despite the fact that Agriculture is a state subject as per the Indian Constitution. 7. The PMO is known to have sent out some communication in the recent past which quotes extensively from industry sources, to the complete exclusion of overwhelming evidence to the contrary with regard to the need, safety and benefits of GM crops. Does the infiltration of such industry outfits as ISAAA indicate that the PMO has also come under pressure and that democratic, scientific voices against GM foods are to be ignored in favour of commercial interests? 8. Faulty analytical frameworks, which ignore the potential of alternatives to technologies like Bt Brinjal also put a question in our minds on whether this government is indeed on the side of people or profit-hungry corporations. The rationale of arguing that we cannot ignore biotechnology for increasing food production is completely unscientific and faulty too. Bt Brinjal cannot be a solution for the starving and hungry millions of this country and such fallacious arguments will be seen through by citizens of this country. It is unacceptable that Bt Brinjal is being equated with all GM crops and decision-making is driven by such a framework. Further, biotechnology does not consist of transgenics alone and is a vast subject. This excessive emphasis on transgenic technology points either to a lack of scientific abilities in India to explore other safer technologies or points to a nexus with industry bodies like Monsanto which are relying only on this technology for filling up their coffers. It should also be remembered that alternatives that are viable, sustainable and affordable exist and there is no lack of scientific proof of that. The GM crop option being chosen, in the face of availability of such alternative technologies, makes us question the vision for development that the UPA government holds. It is time that the government credibly showed where it stands on this issue – towards the side of ordinary citizens and their sustainable development or towards the side of corporations and unsafe/unneeded science. *We call upon the Government of **India** to demonstrate its pro-people sustainable development vision by immediately withdrawing the report of the EC2 and rejecting Bt Brinjal in **India**.* Sincerely, Kavitha Kuruganti Kheti Virasat Mission Jaitu, Punjab Cc: (1) Smt Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, UPA; (2) Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Environment & Forests, GoI -- KAVITHA KURUGANTI Kheti Virasat Mission Jaitu, Faridkot dist., Punjab Phone: +91-9393001550 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "punjabeco-crisis - Kheti Virasat Mission" group. To post to this group, send email to punjabeco-cri...@googlegroups.com. 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