Monthly Archives: May 2013

Women of Comox valley – Peggy Carswell 1

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Peggy Carswell

Peggy Carswell

Last month, I had the privilege of meeting up with a number of remarkable women in Comox valley, Vancouver Island, in British Columbia. All of them were self employed, all engaged in running organic farms, and all of them unique in their own way. This blog is prepared and dedicated to them, through a video for each of them. The story starts with Peggy Carswell. How we came to know each other itself is a story, and is linked with her connection with the tea growing regions of north east India, in the province of Assam.

This blog will be expanding in the coming days. But for now, we have a ten minute video of Peggy talking about how a bunch of school kids in the town of Jorhat in the Indian province of Assam, influenced their parents, and eventually the community, to go organic. Its a remarkable story.

Peggy Carswell speaks about children in Assam ushering a real green revolution.

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Thierry Vrain – part six

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This sixth and last part of the interview with Dr. Theirry Vrain at his Innisfree farm in the Comox Valley covers the closing statement from Thierry regarding a seeming contradiction with regard to Genetically Modified organisms. On one side, these GMO are not being subjected to safety test by food and health administrations of Canada or the US because these organisms are supposedly substantially equivalent to the non GMO counterparts. But on the other side, the patent office has granted patents for these GM products on the basis that these organisms are uniquely different from any other out there.

In the second part of the video, Thierry answers the question not directly related to GMO, but a very important aspect of soil-plant-bacteria relationship, that of nitrogen fixing.

Thierry Vrain – Part 6: Closing statement from Dr. Vrain on the contradiction of substantial equivalence and substantial uniqueness of patented GM products, and also about the issue of Nitrogen Fixing by soil bacteria.

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The previous parts are also available in earlier posts on this blog. For convenience, we are including those links here:

Thierry Vrain, Part 1,2,3,4

Thierry Vrain, Part 1,2,3,4

Thierry Vrain, Part 5

Thierry Vrain, Part 5

 

Vancouver marches against Monsanto

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“Hell no Monsanto – we don’t want your GMO”

The chant reverberated across the open grounds before the art gallery in Vancouver, in pouring rain, and over a sea of umbrellas. I had never met Laura (NoEnbridge) Yates face to face before. And in a few minutes, she became one of my heroines.

In a strong and unflinching voice, she started the gathered crowd going, raising the level of passion till the protesters matched her in full throated cry – hell no Monsanto, we don’t want your GMO.

There were quite a few people with massive TV cameras wrapped in waterproof covers. Some were likely from the media. But what I saw in the TV later on, they missed the point, and the passion. Monsanto was just a news item, nothing more. But for the people gathered, it was far more than having fun shouting around in the rain. It was a call at arms for protection of farmers, farm produce and the very food we chose to eat.

At the end point of the march, at BC place, we finally got the mini-group picture – of the four musketeers that joined hands with the thousands in Vancouver and millions around the world, to bring down the evil empire. Thats pocket dynamo and march coordinator super volunteer, Laura (NoEnbridge) Yates, with Tony (citizen journalist) Mitra, Phil (leading GE free Surrey) Harrison and Tony (leading GE free Vancouver) Beck.

Clip 01 : Laura Yates addresses the protesters

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And now, we have the second clip of the event, going all the way to the end of the march, to present a very original rap music by Swami G – named MONSANTROCITY. Borrowing from the farmer suicide catastrophe in the GMO cotton belt of India, the song combines the sad and alarming story of naive farmers falling for the sales gimmick of Monsanto and getting ever deeper into a spiral of debt resulting in hundreds of thousands of farmers committing suicide by drinking the very pesticide sold by Monsanto.

Clip 02 : Swami G on MONSANTROCITY

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In clip 03 we see that, even when joining a global protest against a single corporation, a first ever event for this planet, one can do it with rhythm, rhyme, music and dance. We do not know the names of the impromptu dancers on the street and are thankful for their spontaneous exuberance. They show us how to send off MONSANTO with a song and a dance.

Tony, Heather, Phil & Jeff

Tony, Heather, Phil & Jeff

Included also is a still photo of Phil, Jeff, Heather and Tony, not just cause they are friends, but because Tony and Phil are actually engaged in trying to have Vancouver and Surrey declare themselves GMO free sometime in near future, and we should wish their efforts all success and extend a helping hand where possible.

Clip 03 : Monsanto sent off with a song and a dance

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Bobbie Blair of Ge free Langley, was introduced by Shyanne and took the mic, representing not a scientist or and expert on GMO, but as a concerned mother, and touched a sympathetic chord among the listeners. As he urged people to reconnect with their food source, and support local farmers, so the community can get good food on one side, and local farmers can survive the same time – she got a thundering applause. Well said – Bobbie. Keeping GMO away calls for a multi faceted approach, one where we ourselves need to change the way we source our food.

Clip 04 : Bobbie Blair addresses the crowd

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A talk with MADGE

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MADGE

MADGE

MADGE stands for Mothers Are Demystifying Genetic Engineering. How I love that name. Its a group founded by three women of Australia, incorporated half a dozen years ago, and is is engaged in, among other things, raising awareness on the harmful effects of GMO agribusiness on the ecology and health.

I came to know about MADGE through twitter comments they made about GMO in Australia, read up on them, and asked if I might talk with one of them for a podcast, in order to spread information about their good work in our corner of this connected planet. Fran Murrell of MADGE has my thanks for accepting the offer.

Frances Murrell

Frances Murrell

An alternative explanation for MADGE is “Mothers advocating deliciously good eating” – since all mothers are concerned with health for their children, and are usually the ones that buy food for the family. Therefore, this is a key group that should know what good food is. These women of MADGE have mostly seen how GMO played out in the world, became concerned about the path their nation was attempting to follow with regard to food security.

Australia has had very long periods of drought – the last one lasting almost ten years, which kept use of some of the GM crops such as Bt.Cotton to a minimum. However, as the cycle changes and Australia gets more rain, GMO cotton planting might increase, with all the anticipated side effects such as super-weeds, poisoned soil, and even stronger pesticides etc.

Meanwhile, Australian provinces are one by one lifting the ban on GM Canola, although demand for it from farmers and consumers are minimal. Like everywhere else, Governments do not fully fund educational institutions any more. So many of the science agencies in Australia are funded or co-funded by biotech corporations. In short, science is no more neutral. Money is talking larger than true science, in other words. Independent scientists, if they find issues of health or safety concerns in a GMO product, are often victimized, muzzled, or fired. More of GM crops are looming over the horizon in Australia.

But there is also a bright side. People are rising up in grassroots movements around the world, rejecting this industrial system of spraying poison and shipping food halfway across the world, and rebuilding relationship between the soil and all living creatures, spreading awareness, and volunteering in rebuilding a better world.

The talk, lasting 26 minutes, are converted here as a podcast. You can either listen to it directly from this page by clicking the play button at the bottom of this page. If you wish to send a suggestion or comment, please do so to tony.mitra@gmail.com.

Thanks/ Tony

More from Dr. Thierry Vrain on GMO

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Our talk with noted Canadian soil biologist and retired genetic engineer, Dr. Thierry Vrain was partially covered in an earlier blog, as linked below, which included 4 video clips and one podcast. The first three video trio were about their loverly organic farm. The last one, part 4, was about GMO and the health risk it might carry.

In this video he further elaborates on the bad science behind the GMO technology on one side, and the absence of third party independent testing of the GMO products to assess health risks on the other.

Dr. Thierry Vrain

Dr. Thierry Vrain

Just like part 4, this video too has been converted into an audio podcast as well, so that folks wanting to store the audio podcast in their iPhone or iPod can do so by subscribing to it on iTunes. If you wish to locate the podcast, open iTunes and type “Tonu” in the top right search field and then check the podcast section of the search result. For those that wish to be notified when an additional blog appears, consider clicking the follow (RSS) button at the top right of this blog.

Thierry Vrain – Part 5: Dr. Vrain exposes the dichotomy with regard to GMO feed, where it is substantially equivalent so it does not need to be subjected to safety test on one side, and same time it is totally different from non-GMO food so that it can be granted a patent, on the other side.

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A follow up talk with Dr. Bhargava

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Dr Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, whose vision, foresight and selfless efforts were instrumental to the establishment of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in India, the contributions of which are now known around the world. Widely regarded as the architect of modern biology in India, he conceived the idea of establishing the CCMB and saw to it that it was built, equipped and staffed to uncompromising standards, and could match any other in the world its its quality and reputation.

Dr. Bhargava

Dr. Bhargava

He, along with a British scientist, are credited with using the term Genetic Engineering  for the first time, back in the 1970s in the present context. And yet, he has been a consistent and outspoken critic of the technology as well as ethics of the biotech industry in its promotion of GMO. I had spoken with him once before and put up a podcast on the issues of GMO in India. But I had not discussed the specifics of the fault in the GMO technology.

And so, I had called up Dr. Bhargava, as a follow up. The discussion, edited and shortened, into an under 8 minute podcast, is linked below.

PodcastTonu1440

Podcast logo in iTune

You can either listen to it directly from this page by clicking the play button at the bottom of this page. For those that wish to store the audio and listen at leisure through their iPod, iPhone or iPad etc, can do so from Apple iTunes. Type “Tony Mitra” in the iTune Store search field, and the podcast should show up. One can subscribe to the podcast (its free) and listen to the episodes later. All the episodes are almost exclusively related to GMO. It is free of charge.

Jas Singh in God’s Little Acre Farm

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Jas Singh has been working at God’s Little Acre farm for three years, and every year, he increases the amount of land under the plough, and along with that, comes increased yield. For a small farmer with minimal machinery and gadgets, and with little cash injection, Jas runs the farm like a small farmer. And, smartly, he keeps cost down by staying away from pesticides, fertilizers and patented GMO seeds.

Jas Singh

Jas Singh

He started the farm while doing a second job of driving a truck long distance, and working on the farm on off days. He hopes, as the farm grows, he will need less trucking and more farming.

Helped by a lot of his friends and neighbours that volunteer at his farm, free of charge, Jas’s farm produce is to support local food banks and the surrounding community. A clean, chemical free sustainable farmer with a social responsibility, Jas Singh has been invited to the Cloverdale Rodeo this year to hold a stall and be the star attraction among the farmers.

This seven and half minute video was shot today, and rendered today, designed to be shown at his stall at the Rodeo this weekend.

Jas Sing in God’s Little Acre Farm

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A talk with Leo Saldana

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Leo Saldana

Leo Saldana

Leo F. Saldanha is full-time Coordinator of Environment Support Group (ESG). He has gained wide-ranging experience in the areas of Environmental Law and Policy, Decentralisation, Urban Planning and a variety of Human Rights and Development related issues, working across many sectors for over a decade. He is a keen campaigner on critical environmental and social justice issues and has guided several campaigns demanding evolution of progressive laws and effectiv action. He has creatively supported various distressed communities to secure justice through public interest litigations and advocacy efforts. He has argued as party in person several public interest litigations, many of which have resulted in remarkable judgments.

One of the more important court cases his organization initiated is to do with Monsanto and its Indian partner Mahyco, and a possible violation of an Indian law that could amount to biopiracy.

I had called him to learn more about it, and have converted the first part of that talk into a short video clip and an 11 minute podcast, linked at the bottom of this page. You can also find the podcast on iTunes. Search “Tony Mitra” for my podcasts. The rest of the conversation will come up in subsequent parts.

Leo Salndana of ESG, Part 1

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Dr. Ramu of Centre of Sustainable Agriculture, India

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Here we include a podcast involving a talk with Dr. Ramu of India, on sustainable agriculture.

Dr. Ramanjeneyulu, or Dr. Ramu is short, is a noted agricultural scientist in India, and the executive director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, whose work involves finding solutions to, and helping the farmers to rediscover pesticide free, debt free model of agriculture that would make farming once again a profitable and sustainable profession.

CSA focuses on developing and promoting locally adapted farming systems, sustainable farming practices. Organic Farming, Non Pesticidal Management, Open Source Seeds, Ethno-veterinary practices water conservation etc are practiced to promote ecological and economic sustainability.

Dr. Ramu

Dr. Ramu

Dr. Ramu has been invited in late May 2013 to Charlotte, North Carolina, provide the keynote speech at the annual conference of Association for India’s Development (AID), a registered Non-profit Organisation in the US that are involved with, among other things, grassroots movements in helping farming to find a sustainable platform, away from the debt inducing and pesticide laden industrial agri-model that is proving to be disastrous to the Indian farmers as well as to ecology and rural economy.

I spoke with him on phone, to learn more of the current situation in India, of his remarkable work, and also about what he might speak about in his keynote speech in North Carolina later this month. We also discussed what might be a good topic for a tentative panel discussion involving Dr. Ramu as well as participants from North America, on topic such as importance of small family farm sustainability on a global scale as a buffer to ensure food security for the planet.

Below is the 13 minute podcast. For your feedback, you may write to tonu@tonu.org or tony.mitra@gmail.com.

Bee killing pesticide and other chemicals on our horizon – a talk with Dr. Shiv Chopra

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Dr. Shiv Chopra

Dr. Shiv Chopra

What on earth is neonicotinoid pesticide ? And how is it linked to killing bees across the planet? EU is reportedly considering banning this manmade chemical for a while, so its effects on bees and other living organisms, including humans, can be better ascertained.

So whats the deal here? To find out, myself from British Columbia, and Rose Stevens from Manitoba, called up Dr. Shiv Chopra in Ontario, and asked him.

Dr. Shiv Chopra needs no introduction. Here he talks about the unfortunate development where the Canadian Government appears to be favoring products that could have a health concern but is siding with Corporations and not adopting a precautionary approach in testing products that might have a health concern.

The result of that conversation is attached here in this seven and a quarter minute audio podcast.