I am Devi and I have worked on sustainable agriculture and safe food issues in the US, Europe and India and am currently associated with Thanal (Kerala), an advocacy and research group, and Urban Leaves (Mumbai), a volunteer group, in India.

I was (like someone said before in this conference) planning to be a silent participant, just to understand different viewpoints, however feel compelled to speak up due to the bias I feel in the discussion. The fact of the matter is that peer reviewed papers can parse the truth any which you frame the research question and they do not make for the only source of truth in the world.

As regards Bt brinjal, it is not wise for a highly populated yet richly bio-diverse nation to take a dismissive stance about its biodiversity. The answer is to the question is we have to calibrate our activities so that our valuable resource of biodiversity is not further eroded, the respected The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB, http://www.teebtest.org/) initiative clearly points out the inextricable link between poverty and loss of biodiversity, and that Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are at risk due to loss of biodiversity. Their report that clearly shows that India is already threatened by loss of biodiversity.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee of India representing the federal government, cutting across party lines has given a detailed analysis of GM crop situation in India and has clearly asked for a relook at the Bt brinjal decision as it said that the whole thing "indicative of collusion of worst kind" and  has recommended a "thorough probe into the Bt brinjal matter...by a team of eminent scientists and environmentalists" (page 72 of the Parliamentary Standing Committee report). [The link to this report by the Committee on Agriculture (2011-2012) entitled "Cultivation of genetically modified food crops - Prospects and effects" was given in Message 37...Moderator].

A technical expert committee formed at the behest of the Supreme Court of India has released their interim report last month and recommended among other things a 10 year moratorium be imposed on field trials of Bt food crops and a multi-disciplinary stakeholder evaluation be done of herbicide tolerant crops before even considering them in the Indian context. (http://indiagminfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/SC-TEC-interim-report-oct17th-2012-GMO-PIL.pdf - 1.5 MB).

To say that "Bt brinjal is absolutely essential to protect the health of human beings, other mammals, non-target organisms, soil, water, biodiversity and environment" (Message 46) to me sounds more asking for blind faith and prayer rather than peer reviewed science !! Might be interesting to read Dr.Altieri's "Ten reasons why biotechnology will not ensure food security, protect the environment, and reduce poverty in the developing world" (http://www.agbioforum.org/v2n34/v2n34a03-altieri.htm).

As regards the generous donation of Bt brinjal event and its incorporation into open pollinated varieties (Message 42) is currently a case of bio-piracy, in which the govt has initiated  action (details: http://www.esgindia.org/campaigns/press/nba-confirms-monsantomahyco-and-ors-be-c.html).

Therefore, I think that quoting from some peer reviewed papers (or non reviewed) is not sufficient to understand the implications of and decide on whether Bt brinjal is a good product, appropriate for the Indian context, whether the Indian industry and regulatory authorities have done the due diligence and whether our society, people, polity and agriculture system will benefit from it or be harmed by it.

Sreedevi Lakshmi Kutty
Thanal
Jawahar Nagar, Trivandrum,
Kerala, India
(currently based in The Hague, Netherlands)
http://www.thanal.co.in/
http://www.urbanleavesinindia.com/
e-mail: l.sreedevi (at) gmail.com

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