Farmers' association declares war on GE crops (India)

[nosmokes]

original-hindutimes

Farmers' association declares war on GE crops

Special Correspondent

"These crops will endanger food security, poison the environment" "They will endanger food security "

# Trials are being conducted clandestinely
# Companies such as Monsanto-Mahyco have poor bio-safety records
# Firms testing such crops are mandated to destroy them after trials, but the practice is never followed

CHENNAI: Representatives of the Tamil Nadu Velan Kappu Kuzhu said on Wednesday they would not allow genetically engineered crops to be tested or cultivated anywhere in Tamil Nadu.

"We are ready to face any consequence in our fight against these crops, which endanger food security and poison the environment. If need be, we will confiscate GE seeds from shops that sell them and destroy them," K. Chellamuthu, chairman, Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, told reporters.

Last week, members of the Kuzhu, an umbrella organisation of farmers, consumer organisations and environmental groups, staged a protest by uprooting GE paddy from a trial field at Alandurai near Ramanathapuram in Coimbatore.

Appeal to

Chief Minister

"The trials are being conducted clandestinely by multinational companies such as Monsanto that is selling GE seeds through Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Limited. We are losing our traditional crop strains by the invasion of the MNC crops. We will try to create awareness of the threat posed by these crops and will appeal to Chief Minister M. Karuninidhi to make Tamil Nadu a GE-free State,'' Mr. Chellamuthu said.

[Kiouni]

1. wow way to throw out reason.

GE crops are one of the most important growths in the science community and to the world. Not only can we possible cure malnutrition but we can actually grow our medications! with very simple science we can "genetically" engineer plants to grow different enzymes, proteins and so forth that humans can use for medicinal purposes at a very cheap price.

People forget that the food today is engineered. all of it of millions of years. We have created apples that have a thin skin and a pleasant sweetness in comparison to the old world "cooking apples." Our grains have been domesticated too our wheats and barleys bread over many centuries to burst their grains out ward instead of holding on their seeds with a thick encasing. what is the point of this explosion, nothing it was a defect we exploited. so next time you eat bread or drink a beer or eat an apple realize the miracle of genetic engineering.

[nosmokes]

2. but what you're talking about is not what's happening with

monsanto and cargill and syngenta and bayer and the frankencrops they're developing and experimenting on us with. none of what was in your post involved taking the genes of of one species and splicing them into another. and so far there have been no increases in harvest or decreases in cost due to GE crops. in fasct quite the opposite. but owning the patent for certain varieties of seds has certainly earned a lot of money for certain sectors of the chemical agricultural complex, and the farmer has most definitely not been one of them.selective breeding is not genetic engineering. and genetic engineering is anything but a miracle. ask some of the farmers in india. but you better be quick, because they're committing suicide at an alarming rate thanks to megacorps that wanna control the worlds food supply.

[Kiouni]

4. let me clarify

I was speaking specifically about life saving crops that are being rallied against simply because of their creation through genetic engineering such as "golden rice."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rice

Crops like these and that of say modified "purple" potatoes can have increase nutrients and natural pesticides built into them so that poorer nations can grow these with a substantial yield.

As far as medicine is concerned that is usually done here in the u.s and mostly underground in caves to stop any possible spread.

The farming issues of india are so far removed from what crops are trying to be grown that that statement is ridiculous. India's problems are apparent with their very recent attempt to modernize with IT universities and the competition for outsourced technology jobs. This change has caused a flood of people to the cities and left the country side even more impoverished. the solution is not to stop ge crops but encourage an overall increase in the standard of living for indians.

[nosmokes]

6. the VIit A increase in golden rice is very, very small,

and as is pointed out in the wikipedia link, more could be done by utilizing local/indigenous plants and biodynamic farming methods. as for why indian farmers are committting suicide in such high numbers it is directly attributable to high debt caused by having to buy seds and poisons monsanto because of deals made corrupt officials bought with large amounts of cash that monsanto had, in part, thanks to subsidies from the us gov't, and the subsidized grain from the US farmers that gets shipped into india. these two factors combine to make itnear impossible for an indian farmer to eke out even a subsistence living, much less a comfortable one.

studies have shown that localized organic farming can more than feed the world amply, but it can do so while producing healthy and nutritious food and keeping the soil, water and air cleaner of chemical and toxic waste.

[MADem]

3. Both posts one and two make excellent points.

On the one hand, some tweaking has produced stronger, better more disease resistant and tastier food. OTOH, ya gotta wonder how much tweaking they are doing, if it is too much, and if they are making seeds "proprietary" so that only THEY can sell them, wiping out indigenous varieties of plants, and then there's the matter of cross pollination with regular crops....

It's one of those on the one hand/on the other hand arguments.

[Kiouni]

5. killer bee kind of thing, huh?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_bee