Dear Goenkars, Goa seems to be keen on heading from one disaster to another. As if real estate, mining and drugs were not bad enough, it now wants to rush where other states refused to budge ...Genetically Modified food crops.
QUOTE >Permission to conduct Multilocation Research Trial (MLRT) on Bt. Brinjal >hybrids >Bt GO 112, Bt Udupi Gulla, GO 112 and Udupi Gulla containing > cry 1Ac gene at ELA Farm, Department of Agriculture, Govt of Goa during > Summer- monsoon 2008 instead of at KVK Goa. UNQUOTE The Directorate of Agriculture, Goa, needs to answer a few questions first. I cannot imagine my former parent department adopting BT brinjal for trials. The entire department does not have a Plant Breeder or Plant Pathologist to carry out such a trial. The text of the report in a local newspaper in Goa today [16 Aug. 2008] is copied below. Also visit: www.csa-india.org; www.indiagminfo.org Mog asundi. Miguel ---------- Forwarded message ---------- HERALD 16 August, 2008 Front page anchor story: *Ela Farm to test-grow genetically modified brinjals?*** ANIL PANDEY PANJIM, AUG 15 – Goa may soon become a testing ground for genetically modified vegetables, as the 88th meeting of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee has recently approved a multi-location research trial (MLRT) on BT Brinjal hybrids containing the cry 1 Ac gene at the State-run Ela Farm during summer-monsoon 2008. A private Indian player — the Jalna-based Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco) — had offered the gene 'event' embedded in its genetically modified (GM) brinjal to the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, and the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, in 2006. These State agriculture universities (SAUs) were to use Mahyco's material for backcrossing with their already developed brinjal varieties. Mahyco sourced the cry 1 Ac gene construct for its BT brinjal mainly from Monsanto, the United States life sciences multinational that has a 26 per cent stake in the company. The transfer was facilitated through the USAID-funded and Cornell University-managed Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II. The company says it will not charge any royalty for trial runs, but only commercial sales made by the universities. This sounds like a clever move of avoiding direct research costs, and reaping huge royalties from using the State infrastructure to market its GM seeds. Whether a one-time lumpsum payment was also negotiated for the deal has not been revealed. Mahyco has been accused of conducting field trails of GM modified crops without informing farmers. *Greenpeace-India *and* the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA)* had protested field trials of GM BT trials on okra (ladies' fingers) and brinjal, on fields in Andhra Pradesh. The CSA said the farmer did not even know that a BT trial of GM brinjal was being carried on his field. His family — and probably others in the area — unknowingly consumed the yet-to-be-tested BT brinjals, without knowing about their properties or side effects. No GM brinjal has been released for an advanced stage of field trials in open conditions anywhere in the world, and that this is the first time the GEAC could be giving permission for large scale group open trials for a food crop in India – a country that has repeatedly proven itself incapable of regulating GM technology, and has allowed contamination as a routine affair. Proliferation of illegal BT Cotton in the country is proof of the serious irreversible lapses that could happen at the trial stage. Vegetables, more than other food items, go through very little processing and are directly consumed after cooking, and therefore require great caution in decision-making," says expert Nethra Putti. It seems almost impossible to keep GM and non GM streams separate. Pollen travels, and if the trial of BT brinjal was to happen in Goa, it is very likely that local varieties may get contaminated. More than two-thirds of conventional crops in the US are contaminated with genetically modified material, says a report on the Global Policy Forum: 'Revealed: Shocking New Evidence of the dangers of GM crops'. An announcement in August 2006 that an unapproved variety of GM rice had been found at low levels in US long-grain rice sent shock waves through the food industry. *GeneWatch, UK*, and Greenpeace run an online register of GM contamination incidents, recording 132 incidents that have arisen at every stage of development, from the laboratory, to the field, to the plate. Claims that the GM seeds increase profitability are dubious. The spate of suicides by cotton farmers has not reduced – in fact it has increased – despite BT Cotton being planted in most parts of the country. A CSA study compared 120 BT cotton fields with 123 non-BT cotton varieties. It showed that the cost of cultivation per acre for BT cotton was 67 per cent higher, while net income or profitability was 37 per cent lower for BT Cotton compared to other varieties. The Andhra Pradesh Coalition in Defence of Diversity (APCDD) and *South Against Genetic Engineering (SAGE)* have said that BT Cotton should be banned in India: "What are we going to lose, except for saving royalty of billions of rupees that Monsanto collects for its BT gene?" they charged. In 2006, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) held that seed companies, particularly Monsanto, Mahyco and Biotec Ltd, were adopting restrictive trade practices and imposing an unreasonable royalty of Rs 900 per 450 grams of BT cotton seed (Monsanto's BT Cotton seeds were being sold for Rs1, 600 per 450 grams). In several places, farmers have been driven to drastic action, forcibly halting GM crop experiments. In 2006, the *Tamil Nadu Organic Farming Movement* uprooted crops of Mahyco's trial fields near Coimbatore, and planted Bio-Hazard signposts to demarcate the 20-acre trial field stretch. In the long run, GM crops threaten biodiversity and put the control of agriculture in the hands of massive corporations. Clearly, the best thing is to keep the GM seeds out. Then why is the Goa government's agriculture farm taking them in? Herald Report 16 August, 2008. Page 1 anchor. ............................................................................................................... > http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=41297 > > *Ministry of Environment and Forests* ** > > ** 88th meeting of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee > ------------------------------ > The 88th meeting of Genetic Engineering Approval Committee met today to > >consider proposals regarding Pharmaceuticals, applications for > MLRT/Strip trials and experimental seed production of transgenic crops > expressing new gene/events during Kharif, 2008 and certain aspects of Bt > cotton. They are: > > Permission for import of recombinant HIV Vaccine TBC –M4 and ADVAX for > conduct of phase I clinical trials of preventive AIDS vaccine from M/s > Therion Biologics Corporation, Cambridge, MA, USA by National AIDS Research > Institute (ICMR), Pune. > > Permission for import to conduct Phase III Clinical trials with > r-adenovirus p 53 (rAdp53) in the treatment for newly diagnosed unresectable > squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck from China by M/s Intas > Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. > > Consideration of Applications for MLRT/Strip trials and experimental seed > production of transgenic crops expressing new gene/events during Kharif, > 2008 as recommended by the RCGM. > > Permission to conduct Multi Location Research Trials (MLRT) of 2 transgenic > Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var botrytis) hybrids namely SCF-1 Bt & SCF-3 > Bt containing cry1Ac gene during Kharif 2008 submitted by M/s. Sungro Seeds > Research Ltd., New Delhi & for extension of the permission letter for > conducting Multilocation Research Trial (MLRT) on Bt. Cauliflower hybrids > namely SCF-8 Bt and SCF-9 Bt containing cry 1Ac gene from Rabi 2007 to > Kharif 2008 . > > Permission to conduct Multi Location Research Trial (MLRT) on 4 transgenic > stacked cotton hybrids namely MRC-8347 BG-II RRF Roundup, MRC-8351 BG-II RRF > Roundup, MRC-8301 BG-II RRF Roundup, MRC-8326 BG-II RRF roundup containing > cry1Ac, cry2Ab and CP4EPSPS genes (MON 15985 X MON 88913) at six locations in > South zone during Kharif 2008 by M/s. Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co. Ltd., > Maharashtra. > > Permission to conduct Multi-location Research Trial (MLRT) and limited seed > production with new (HXH) transgenic cotton hybrids containing cry1Ac > (Event-1) and cry1EC (Event-24) namely JKCH-1050 Bt EGII, JKCH-1947Bt EGII & > JKCH-226Bt EGII at five locations in North zone, five hybrids namely > JKCH-99Bt EGII, JKCH-666BT EGII, JK-Indra Bt EGII, JK-Varun Bt EGII, > JK-Durga Bt EGII at five locations in Central zone and four hybrids namely > JKCH-99Bt EGII, JK-Indra EGII, JK-Durga Bt EGII, JKCH-2245Bt EGII at five > locations in South zone by M/s. JK Agri Genetics Ltd., Hyderabad. > > Dharwad Permission to conduct Multilocation Research Trial (MLRT) on Bt. > Brinjal hybrids Bt GO 112, Bt Udupi Gulla, GO 112 and Udupi Gulla containing > cry 1Ac gene at ELA Farm, Department of Agriculture, Govt of Goa during > Summer- monsoon 2008 instead of at KVK Goa. > > Permission to conduct Multi Location Research Trials (MLRT) on three cotton > hybrids namely MCE101, MCE102, MCE103 containing cry1C gene (MLS9124 event) > at five locations in North zone and four cotton hybrids namely MCL351, > MCM352, MCM357, MCE358 containing cry1C gene (MLS9124 Event) at eight > locations in Central and six locations in South zones during Kharif 2008. > > Permission to conduct Elite Event Selection Trials on 28 Bt rice lines for > research and Development purpose at their own R & D farm during Kharif 2008. > > > Permission to conduct Strip Trial on eight BGII Bt cotton during Kharif > 2008, to change the location of strip trial from their R&D Center located at > Guntur in A.P. to their R&D Center in Salem district of Tamil Nadu in South > zone and the permission to conduct SAUtrials of Bt. cotton hybrids 5174 Bt > and 5125 Bt in the central zone and South zones Kharif 2008. were also > considered. The applications were submitted by by M/s. Metahelix Life > Sciences, Bangalore, M/s. Ganga kaveri Seeds Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad and M/s. > Ajeet Seeds Ltd., Maharashtra respectively. Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:59:39 +0530 Subject: Re: Yesterday's GEAC meeting: Bt Brinjal trials in Goa.... To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Claude Alvares <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Ofai <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] > www.csa-india.org; www.indiagminfo.org -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. Miguel Braganza, S1 Gracinda Apts, Rajvaddo, Mhapsa 403507 Goa Ph 9822982676 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
