Letter to CM, Orissa: Bt Brinjal (GM eggplant) being forced on the people.

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To

Sri Naveen Pattnaik,

Hon'ble Chief Minister,

Govt of Orissa

Bhubaneswar.

 

DT: 12.01.09

 

Sub: Introduction of Bt Brinjal into Orissa. Latest French University Study

says Bt Brinjal is Unsafe for Human Consumption.

 

Respected Sir,

 

Please accept our best wishes for the New Year.

 

This has reference to media reports that convey Bt Brinjal, a Genetically

Modified (GM) crop, will undergo field trials in Orissa prior to its approval

for commercial cultivation. We have on earlier occasions appraised your good

self about the various independent as well as government studies that have

pointed out severe health hazards of GM food.

 

The tests have proved that mice fed on GM food have suffered sterility, high

infant mortality rates, stunted growth, stomach and intestinal lesions, liver

and kidney damage, organ damage at the cellular level, internal

bleeding amongst others. In India cattle fed on Bt Cotton fodder and oil cakes

have suffered from infertility, reduced milk yield, bloody dysentery, excessive

salivation, bloated stomachs, and have also died very painful deaths. Other

domestic animals like sheep and goats have died in very large numbers after

grazing on Bt Cotton harvesting fields all over the country.

 

The Bt Brinjal will carry the same inserted Bt gene as Bt Cotton. This

uncomfortable truth and the results of studies on mice make us very anxious as

to the consequences of human consumption of this GM food crop. As per the

Austrian government study, many of the symptoms aggravated in the long term,

consequences that short-term study will not be able to detect.

 

More recently a French scientific study led by Caen University professor

Gilles-Eric Séralini, a study team of the Committee for Independent Research

and Information on Genetic Engineering has branded Bt Brinjal " unsafe for human

consumption " . The study says eating Bt Brinjal brought down appetite in goats,

altered prothrombin (which helps blood clot) in rabbits and glucose levels in

broiler chickens in its tests. It also induced resistance to kanamycin, an

antibiotic.

 

The study raised serious doubts on safety data presented by developer

Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Ltd (Mahyco) to the government. The study

questioned safety tests conducted by Mahyco, based on which the government is

conducting trials. It said in toxicity tests on insects, Mahyco used an

" improper " toxin. " This could also make these tests not valid, " it informed. 

 

Genetic Modification of plants has also alarmed medical practitioners worldwide

who depend on the plant kingdom as a dependable source for a majority of the

medicines they prescribe for various common and critical ailments. The

widespread contamination with GM crops that has been observed and

recorded wherever such crops have been cultivated will threaten the

biodiversity and interfere with those very basic characteristics of food and

medicinal plants based upon which medicines are prepared from them.

 

Eminent homeopaths of Orissa have pointed out at the recently concluded State

Level Homeopathic Conference, " Through such activity (Genetical Modification of

plants) we are destroying the natural gene pool and creating new mutations in

the natural world resulting in harmful flora and fauna around us. Widespread

introduction of this technology will result in completely nullifying the whole

principle of homeopathy as most of the drugs in homeopathy are produced from

food crops and medicinal plants. Medicines prepared from genetically modified

plants will not work, as the symptomalogy will have changed. Our entire Materia

Medica would be rendered useless. The whole system of homeopathy will be

jeopardised and will lead to chaos amongst homeopaths. "

 

In your widely acclaimed book, " The Garden of Life " , you have given a vivid

description of the medicinal plants that are a part of our national heritage.

Genetic Modification poses a real threat to such plants that are being used for

medicinal purpose by all systems of medicine. The life you have so vividly

described in your well illustrated and meticulously written book is already

under threat as Biotechnology Research Institutes in Kerala have begun research

into such commonly used and essential medicinal plants as Brahmi and

Ashwagandha. Both of these medicinal plants have found mention in your valuable

book.

 

Our Hon'ble Union Health Minister, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, has publicly protested

against the introduction of GM crops after going through research findings made

available to him. The regulatory officials seem very concerned about " public

health " but do not find it necessary to consult the Health Ministry on the

subject. They have also said that it is not necessary to educate doctors so that

they can prevent, diagnose and treat the various health problems that will

result from the consumption of GM food and crops. Their only motive seems to

introduce this highly controversial and widely protested food into India at any

cost. They also do not mind that the patents of such seeds will " be held by the

seed companies as long as they wish to. "

 

Dr Pushpa Bhargava, appointed by the Supreme Court to look into the regulatory

process resorted by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, has come across

gross irregularities. He has decried the method of approval that relies solely

on the " summary results " presented by the seed manufacturers. He has called for

a moratorium so that the country can build up the required infrastructure to

test such food, and monitor and protect human, animal health and biodiversity.

 

We have been witness to eminent scientists of Orissa desperately opposing GM

food crops for adverse effected noted by them during laboratory tests in the

Biju Pattnaik Hall of the OUAT where a workshop on " Management and Monitoring of

Field Trials of Genetically Engineered Crops " was held on the 3rd January'09.

Veterinary surgeons have questioned the trial results approved the RCGM, GEAC

and such other bodies. They have informed that cattle and goats are suffering

and dying in the cotton cultivation districts of Orissa where large scale

illegal cultivation of Bt Cotton has taken place. Very senior scientific

researchers have warned against the inevitable consequences of widespread GM

contamination.

 

The State Agriculture Secretary has personally cautioned against the

introduction of GM crops, even as he was forced to adopt a pro-GM stance in this

workshop sponsored by an organization formed to promote GM food and crops in the

country. In response a senior DBT official referred to these eminent

personalities as " donkeys " just because they dared protest " scientific

procedures " . We are enclosing a minutes of the meeting that has been prepared by

us after attending the aforesaid meeting. We would request you to kindly go

through it before deciding to introduce Bt Brinjal into Orissa.

 

We strongly protest the highhanded methods that are being adopted by the

officials of the regulatory bodies to suppress the loud voice of dissent

emanating from respected Indian scientists all over the country. As GM food

crops like Bt Brinjal will be consumed by one and all such coercive methods,

which lack a proper scientific approach and transparency, should not be resorted

to in a democratic country like India.

 

We earnestly appeal to your goodself to kindly intervene and stop the poisoning

of brinjal, the favourite food of the Oriya's in its many preparations and which

is consumed daily. The lack of labelling which is an impossibility as confessed

by the regulatory regime will force the population to entirely boycott this crop

leading to loss of livelihood of the growers, distributors, stockists and

retailers of this profitable food crop.

 

We are sure we do not want such a scenario to emerge.

 

Respectfully yours,

 

 

(Debjeet Sarangi)  (Jagannath Chatterjee)

Living Farms, Bhubaneswar.

 

Attached: Minutes of Meeting, " " Management and Monitoring of Field Trials of

Genetically Engineered Crops " (MS Word File)

 

 

cc: The Hon'ble Agriculture Minister, Orissa

      The Hon'ble Health Minister, Orissa

      The Chief Secretary, Orissa

      The Agriculture Production Commissioner

      The Agriculture Secretary

      The Director Agriculture

      The Director, Dept of Biotechnology

      The Health Secretary

      The Dean, OUAT

      The Dean Research, OUAT

      The Dean, Orissa Veterninary College,

 

 

 

 

 

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