GM Genocide and India's Suicide Belt

[Trillo]

More “sinister” GM crops

But there is yet a more “sinister reason” for the mass suicides: GM crops, notably Bt cotton. Millions of Indian farmers had been promised undreamt of harvests by switching to planting GM seeds. They borrowed money to buy the exorbitant seeds, only to find their crops failing miserably, leaving them with spiralling debt from which the only exit is suicide. British journalist Andrew Malone writing for the Mail <10> reported an estimated 125 000 farmers had taken their own lives directly as the result of GM crops; the crisis being branded “GM genocide” by campaigners. It is perpetrated by powerful GM lobbyists and prominent politicians all over the world who persist in claiming that GM crops have transformed Indian agriculture and producing greater yields than ever before.

Malone described how he travelled to Maharashtra in the suicide belt to find out for himself who is telling the truth. There he witnessed the cremation of the body of the farmer in a cracked barren field near his home 100 miles from Nagpur in central India.

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/farmersSuicidesBtCottonIndia.php

The above is an excerpt from the middle of the article. The whole thing is somewhat of a long read, but I had no idea it was that bad!

[Babyhoneylips]

1. 125,000 farmers killed themselves!

Holy shit. :(

[Trillo]

4. That is the highest estimate I've yet seen.

Searching does result in other figures.

It seems this problem is primarily about money and debt, but instead of stockbrokers jumping out of windows as our educations said happened in 1929, this is about poor farmers undertaking debt as a result of advertising campaigns and some drinking insecticide (suicide) to discharge those debts.

[HillbillyBob]

2. Monsatos profit over lives wins again

I have been trying to keep up with this for several years.
IN fact my partner and I have been collecting heirloom seeds for several years and started growing a bit of our own food..I suggest others do the same, even if you live in the city and only have a small plot I think we could help keep so many from starving when monsanto monster finally kills commercial cropping.

The situation in India is horrible.
The 'Green revolution' that was started usuing Western methods, seeds and equipment started in the late 70s iirc, these crops need more water, do not yeild as much as tradional Indian crops did, they drilled wells to irrigate these new crops, the ground water is dramatically dropping they used to be able to get water at about 4 or 5 feet below soil levels..now they are into 300 foot deep wells and having to drill further..the well drilling is not cheap either.
These are farmers who live on or below poverty level incomes(and that is if they are well off).
Look up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandana_Shiva She is a real hero of the Indian subcontinent and of freedom to farm in the old ways..ways that worked for thosands of years.

[Name removed]

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[TheWraith]

3. I don't trust outlandish stories from unreliable sources. nt