Bt Brinjal tests inadequate: How safe is it? Rupashree Nanda / CNN-IBN

Greetings from "My Right to Safe Food"

Following the public debate at BIC 4th Dec 6.30pm, please find the a brief news report that appeared in New Indian Express. Public debates continue, to give consumers informed choices. Tomorrow 7th Dec, we proceed to the National Law School 9.30am and there after for a debate at IAT at 3pm. Please spread the message if you are truly concerned about the welfare of our children, health and environment.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=%60Corporates+behind+GM+Crop&artid=S8bwIGHAgLk=&SectionID=Qz/kHVp9tEs=&MainSectionID=wIcBMLGbUJI=&SectionName=UOaHCPTTmuP3XGzZRCAUTQ==&SEO=

`Corporates behind GM Crop'
Express News Service
05 Dec 2009 07:32:37 AM IST

BANGALORE: “Corporates are not interested to solve the food problem, instead they are hungry for profit,” said noted agricultural scientist and food, trade policy expert Devinder Sharma at the public interest debate “GM Crops in India-Hero or Villain? You Decide,’’ organised by the Bangalore International Centre on Friday. Sharma said that to understand the GM issue, one needs to know the politics of it first, where the whole agenda has been driven by corporates.He said, “We have been made to believe the country’s food requirement will shoot up, hence we need to go for GM technology, as it is assumed to increase the yield. This is completely false.” India has produced around 65 million tonnes of surplus food in the year 2003.Hence, he said, all this talk of food prices rising due to food shortage is an utter lie created by the traders. He said, it is a shame that scientists at the Indian Council of Agricultural Science are actually working for the corporate lobbies.Narayanan, MD, Metahelix Life Sciences and task force member of agricultural biotechnology, countered Sharma, saying in the next 15 years, India needs to produce 50 million tonnes of rice. He said with GM crops, the target could be met.

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This is the second part of the CNN IBN Exclusive story on Bt Brinjal Expert Committee...This story apparently played several times yesterday and many of us might have missed it. What the story does not dwell upon is what now appears to be a strategic decision on the part of the regulators - to move away from the January mandate given to the Expert Committee when the sub-committee was first announced, to what it actually majorly focused on: on compliance with guidelines and not on establishing safety!

The Chair of the expert committee, is heard admitting in this interview:

"Genetically Engineered food products will not be equal to the non-genetically engineered food products. That's for sure. Now, how much damage, we do not know at this stage"!

Please pass this around widely....As concerned citizens and groups, write immediately to Mr Jairam Ramesh straightaway, asking for an immediate withdrawal of the report - jairam@vsnl.com and jairam@sansad.nic.in, mosef@nic.in. Phone/Fax No.: 011-24361727, 23463958 ; 24362222 (fax). Mark copies to Prime Minister, Phone: 011-23018939/23011156;
Fax: 011-23015603, 011-23019545, 011-23016857, 011-23014255, Email:pmosb@pmo.nic.in, pmindia@pmindia.nic.in, manmohan@sansad.nic.in and Ms Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, UPA at Phone: 011-23014161; 011-23012656 Fax: 011-23018651; 011-23017047; Email: 10janpath@vsnl.net, soniagandhi@sansad.nic.in

Just one line saying "BT BRINJAL CLEARED UNDER INFLUENCE OF PRESSURE & VESTED INTERESTS; SAFETY OF BT BRINJAL UNSURE AS PER THE EXPERT COMMITTEE CHAIR HIMSELF. WITHDRAW THE EC2 REPORT AND THROW OUT THE APPLICATION FOR COMMERCIALISATION OF BT BRINJAL IMMEDIATELY" should do.

(The earlier story link is at: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/controversy-continues-over-bt-brinjal-approval/106190-3.html)

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bt-brinjal-tests-inadequate-how-safe-is-it/106477-3.html

CNN-IBN EXCLUSIVE

Bt Brinjal tests inadequate: How safe is it?

Rupashree Nanda / CNN-IBN
Fri, Dec 04, 2009 at 17:50, Updated on Fri, Dec 04, 2009 at 19:26 in India section

In October, an Expert Committee gave its approval to Bt Brinjal. Now not just activists or dissenters, even the chairman of that expert group concedes that necessary tests were not done. And without them, at this stage, we simply do not know whether Bt Brinjal is safe or not. CNN-IBN's Rupashree Nanda with this exclusive report.

Please click on the video link to hear Arjula Reddy speak to the correspondent, Rupashree Nanda.

http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/106477/bt-brinjal-tests-inadequate-how-safe-is-it.html