Tag Archives: GMO

Aruna Rodrigues, the Supreme Court of India, The Government, and GMO

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Ms. Aruna Rodrigues describes herself as an ordinary citizen of India. And yet, she has taken on an extraordinary endeavour. She has, through a writ petition in the supreme court of India, challenged the Government of India, no less, in its reckless promotion of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). She hopes to have the court to put a stop to bringing in all GMO, and set up completely independent regulatory body that can be influenced neither by the politicians nor by the biotech industry, to conduct safety tests on these GMO against possible risk to humans as well as natural biodiversity of the nation.

Aruna Rodrigues

Aruna Rodrigues

She started on that case about ten years ago, and it took her two years to gather sufficient data to file the case, in 2005. The famous case is now drawing to a close, and many feel that she has an even chance, and some claim it is better than an even chance, that she might succeed.

At stake here might be the very future of India’s food security and food sovereignty. There has been many in recent years that claim that India’s science and commercial institutions are being used to solve American problems, often at the disadvantage of India’s own interests. Some claim that this agenda comes high up from the Govt, and that it may be a sell-off of national interest for the purpose of assisting foreign commercial goals.

Of relevance here ia a special clause in the Indian constitution, in article 32, which might be unique to India and absent in other democracies, which gives the power to an ordinary citizen of India, to challenge the Government in the Supreme Court, if the citizen’s basic and fundamental rights, as guaranteed in the constitution, are infringed upon by the Government.

Also of relevance is the Cartagena Convention on Biological Diversity, often called the Cartagena Protocol, which came into force in 2003 and to which India is a signatory. This protocol seeks to protect the biological diversity of individual nations, against possible threat by introduced Living Modified Organisms (LMO) created by the Biotech industry, and which might be imported through trade negotiations. This protocol in fact became the binding international agreement on Biosafety. The Protocol stipulates, among other things, that parties shall consult the public in decision-making processes and place important decisions in this regard in the public domain. India, in spite of having signed it, may not have followed the protocol in the manner in which it promoted GMO.

And so, I had requested Aruna for a telephone talk on record, for the purpose of creating a public awareness podcast on this important issue, which affects not just India, but literally half the world. The famous court case is drawing to a close. There are many that hope, myself included, that she might actually win the case, and force the Government of India in doing what is right for the people of India, and stop this reckless introduction of untested and possibly unsafe GMO products to promote interests of foreign biotech corporations.

The under 19 minute podcast can be listened to by clicking the play button at the bottom of this page. Alternately, folks can also subscribe to my podcast from iTunes, and have it downloaded for listening at leisure through their iPhone or iPod etc.

My thanks go to Ms Aruna Rodrigues for allowing me to speak to her on a short notice.
I shall be happy to receive your feedback – at tony.mitra@gmail.com

Relevant Reference:
  1. Order of the Supreme Court in 2012, about formation of expert committee : http://indiankanoon.org/doc/126946252/
  2. PDF copy of the original interim report from the Expert Committee, as submitted to the Supreme Court of India in 2012, essentially recommending that field trials of GMO be stopped till instruments are put in place and independent safety assessment study can be done effectively : http://indiagminfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/SC-TEC-interim-report-oct17th-2012-GMO-PIL.pdf
  3. A report from Hindu, in 2012, about the first (interim) report of the expert committee to the Supreme court, essentially recommending a 10 year ban on all field trials of GMO : http://indiankanoon.org/doc/126946252/
  4. A report from David Andow (one of the scientist whose report was presented to the Indian supreme court) on Bt.Brinjal : https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/science_acj/Xu3sTURqQk
  5. Article from Raw Earth Living on Bt. Brinjal : http://rawearthliving.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/legal-cases-laid-ground-for-gmo-bt-brinjal-ban-india/
  6. Cartagena Protocol : http://bch.cbd.int/protocol/text/
  7. List of Signatories to the Cartagena Protocol (note USA and Canada are almost the only countries missing) : http://bch.cbd.int/protocol/parties/

Women of Comox Valley – Carmen Walkeling

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It was on a sunday, late in April 2013, that I visited the organic farm “Eatmore Sprouts” of Ms Carmen Wakeling. This visit was made possible because of effort and initiative of Ms Peggy Carswell of “Fertile Ground”. She was a friend of Carmen and was visiting her, when she mentioned that I was coming to Comox Valley and that I was interested in meeting with organic farmers of the regions, with a view to possibly recording a video or two of the farms for raising public awareness.

And it was Carmen that agreed to take time out on a Sunday, and wait for me at her farm, even as I was a few minutes late.

I write this series of blogs about the women of Comox valley because I find so many of them constructively engaged in sustainable farming issues, which I find encouraging as well as inspirational. The world was, at one time, engaged with sustainable farming. That was the only way to farm. And then came industrial civilization and the invention of mass scale monoculture and chemical dependent high input farming, with genetically modified and untested food varieties in a farming model that had less involvement of people and more of machines, factory products, lawyers and politicians. And before we realized, the organic natural farmers were on the back foot, and shrinking in number.

Besides, I have personally found womenfolk to have a more caring, healing, outlook to life. Existence did not have to be a battle of survival where my success is only possible with someone else’s demise. There was a more nurturing way to look at life.

Anyhow, I found Carmen to be both enterprising, level headed, efficient, charming, and yet friendly and accommodating – one you would immediately take to as a friend.

This is the first part of our interview. The others will appear here, so stay tuned. I hope you will like it.

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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

[youtube qzLI7gjZqr4]

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

[youtube h5QATlJxw3Q]

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.

[youtube aLFKu3VICgE]

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

[youtube RqxQVKDmvOo]

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.

Dr. Thierry Vrain on faulty science behind GMO technology

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Presenting an audio podcast and a series of video clips about Dr. Thierry Vrain, organic farmer and retired genetic engineer. He explains how the GMO technology is based on a faulty assumption that has since been proven wrong by more recent study of genome ecosystem of living organisms.

Tony, Thierry & Chanchal

Tony, Thierry & Chanchal

Thierry lives in lovely Comox Valley on the east coast of Vancovuer Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

In these video clips, myself, Anu, and Peggy visit the Innisfree farm, or Thierry Vrain and Chanchal Cabrera. Chanchal was busy teaching a class in her farm.

Dr. Vrain with Peggy and Tony in his farm

Dr. Vrain with Peggy and Tony in his farm

Thierry took us around Chanchal’s Teaching garden, and later around his organic farm and discussed how and why of organic farming.

The talks covered chemical free organic farming, sensible gardening practices, as well as a lot of science and experience. Peggy added value to the tour by adding her knowledge and experience into the discussion, including pointers to how things are in Assam, India and how things need to improve, so that pesticides can be taken out of the equation and healthy soil can be preserved and nourished without the need for factory produced toxic chemicals or fertilizers.

Thierry has been many things in his professional life. But for us, his most notable knowledge comes from plant pathology, molecular biology and his experience as a genetic engineer, along with his knowledge that the GMO science is based on old and wrong perceptions of the nature and function of genes. This knowledge is not discussed in this opening section of the video. You need to stay tuned and watch the rest as they are edited and put up.

Thierry Vrain – Part 1 : Thierry  talks to us on medicinal gardens, plants and food.  If chosen well, how our food and lifestyle can cure some decease, even repress or slowdown Cancer. Cancer, which might be considered a decease of old age, is coming up more frequently among the young, and is related to stress, though it has a genetic base. The stress can be from harmful chemicals, physical stress, emotional trauma, could be related to how one lives his/her life, etc.  Then Thierry goes on to describe the garden and its mulch, and how he makes compost out of rotting hay, seaweed, dead leaves etc. And then he shows us how to use natural ingredients to conserve soil health, and explains his own training and work background.

There are many more video clips to be added shortly, so watch this space.

[youtube r48HqSEQYfA]

Thierry Vrain – Part 2: We get a tour around the farm, starting with the meditating labyrinth that they made in the corner which is full of gravel and not suitable for growing vegetables. The adjacent pond is blue-green from the minerals in the clay at the bottom of the pond. Moving on to the vegetable garden, Thierry explains how some medicinal plants are also good as source for mulch that keeps the sun from drying out the soil, and helps growth of micro organisms to work on the fallen vegetation and turn it all into soil nutrient. There is also a fast scene of Thierry’s cat surviving an eagle attack.

[youtube S6X1dKnAgAQ]

Thierry Vrain – Part 3: We spend 21 minutes out in Thierry’s farm and learn about soil biology and the role played by bacteria, fungi, and how photosynthesis was invented by the bacteria before implanting themselves into evolving trees that had the chloroplast. He and Peggy join talks with Tony in explaining how the sunlight and CO2 are worked on by the trees along with nutrients from the soil, and how the tree takes and also gives back into the soil sugars and proteins for the bacteria and fungi that in turn give the plants the minerals it needs. It is necessary to understand the relationship, so that agriculture can be understood and why industrial chemical or GMO are not the solution to either improve plant biology, or soil condition or nutrition value in our food.

[youtube TDuKW4c1cEU]

Exposing the faulty science behind GMO

Thierry Vrain – Part 4: In this video of under 12 minutes, Dr. Thierry Vrain comes to describe his profession as a soil biologist turned genetic engineer, and explained how, since the human genome project was completed in 2002, it dawned on folks on the complexity of genes that shattered the old idea of a one-gene one-protein theory. This also meant, the GMO technology used by the biotech industry was based on a faulty assumption of how genes work, and how dangerous the consequences of that faulty science can be.

[youtube _haVyyFfnA8]

PODCAST : At bottom of this page, and also on iTunes, is the 12 and half minute audio podcast of the above video #4, on GMO.

A talk with Dr. Shiv Chopra on GMO

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Dr. Shiv Chopra

Dr. Shiv Chopra

Dr. Shiv Chopra is a Canadian icon, a food and health scientist that was fired for doing a good job in health Canada, in resisting incursion of questionable food and agri-products patented by foreign corporations that did not meet required safety criteria.

He has explained his long service with health Canada, and circumstances under which he and his colleagues were fired for whistle-blowing, in a book – Corrupt To The Core, memoirs of a Health Canada Whistleblower.

Myself and Teresa Lynn of Port Coquitlam got Dr. Shiv Chopra on a conference call this morning, on April 25, 2013, and recorded the conversation. It was almost an hour long. Since it covered a lot more ground than just GMO, and since people do not usually have patience to listen through an hour of talk, I had to edit it and split the discussion into sections, and keep the GMO sections together to create a 21 minute podcast.

The take away lesson from Dr. Chopra for us was, just like the Occupy movement going on everywhere, we should occupy our health and our food chain and tell the Govt and the Corporations to leave our food and our body, alone.

Another take away lesson was – Economy and GDP is fine, but food should be out of the economic design where profit trumps good living and good health. Make money somewhere else. Leave our food alone.

You can listen to the Podcast at the bottom of this page. Alternately, you can also find this, and other podcasts from this blog at iTunes. Type “Tonu” in the search field in iTunes, which is my pet name, and the name attached to this blog, and hence the Podcast. iTunes will show a number of items in result. Scroll down to the Podcast section, and you should find Tonu – Tony Mitra, among a handful of podcasts.

Memoirs of a Health Canada Whistleblower
Memoirs of a Health Canada Whistleblower

You can either listen to this and other podcasts directly from there, or you can subscribe to it, and get it into your computer, or iPod or iPhone etc.

Your comments are welcome. If you do not have an account with WordPress blogging, you can get one. Alternately, you can send me an email at tonu@tonu.org, or tony.mitra@gmail.com or tonu@me.com

Thanks.