Bio-Technically developed Brinjal are not SAFE for Human Consuption.

To

Sri Naveen Pattnaik,

Hon’ble Chief Minister,

Govt of Orissa

Bhubaneswar.

 

DT: 12.01.09

 

Sub: Introduction of Bt Brinjal into Orissa. Latest French University Study says Bt Brinjal is Unsafe for Human Consumption.

 

Respected Sir,

 

Please accept our best wishes for the New Year.

 

This
has reference to media reports that convey Bt Brinjal, a Genetically
Modified (GM) crop, will undergo field trials in Orissa prior to its
approval for commercial cultivation. We have on earlier occasions
appraised your good self about the various independent as well as
government studies that have pointed out severe health hazards of GM
food.

 

The
tests have proved that mice fed on GM food have suffered sterility,
high infant mortality rates, stunted growth, stomach and intestinal
lesions, liver and kidney damage, organ damage at the cellular level,
internal bleeding amongst others. In India cattle fed on Bt Cotton
fodder and oil cakes have suffered from infertility, reduced milk
yield, bloody dysentery, excessive salivation, bloated stomachs, and
have also died very painful deaths. Other domestic animals like sheep
and goats have died in very large numbers after grazing on Bt Cotton
harvesting fields all over the country.

 

The Bt Brinjal will carry the same inserted Bt gene as Bt Cotton.
This uncomfortable truth and the results of studies on mice make us
very anxious as to the consequences of human consumption of this GM
food crop. As per the Austrian government study, many of the symptoms
aggravated in the long term, consequences that short-term study will
not be able to detect.

 

More
recently a French scientific study led by Caen University professor
Gilles-Eric Séralini, a study team of the Committee for Independent
Research and Information on Genetic Engineering has branded Bt Brinjal “unsafe for human consumption”.
The study says eating Bt Brinjal brought down appetite in goats,
altered prothrombin (which helps blood clot) in rabbits and glucose
levels in broiler chickens in its tests. It also induced resistance to
kanamycin, an antibiotic.

 

The study raised serious doubts on safety data presented by developer Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Ltd (Mahyco) to the government. The
study questioned safety tests conducted by Mahyco, based on which the
government is conducting trials. It said in toxicity tests on insects,
Mahyco used an “improper” toxin. “This could also make these tests not
valid,” it informed. 

 

Genetic Modification of plants has also alarmed medical practitioners worldwide
who depend on the plant kingdom as a dependable source for a majority
of the medicines they prescribe for various common and critical
ailments. The widespread contamination with GM crops that has been
observed and recorded wherever such crops have been cultivated will
threaten the biodiversity and interfere with those very basic
characteristics of food and medicinal plants based upon which medicines
are prepared from them.

 

Eminent
homeopaths of Orissa have pointed out at the recently concluded State
Level Homeopathic Conference, “Through such activity (Genetical
Modification of plants) we are destroying the natural gene pool and
creating new mutations in the natural world resulting in harmful flora
and fauna around us. Widespread introduction of this technology
will result in completely nullifying the whole principle of homeopathy
as most of the drugs in homeopathy are produced from food crops and
medicinal plants. Medicines prepared from genetically modified plants
will not work, as the symptomalogy will have changed. Our entire
Materia Medica would be rendered useless. The whole system of
homeopathy will be jeopardised and will lead to chaos amongst homeopaths.”

 

In
your widely acclaimed book, “The Garden of Life”, you have given a
vivid description of the medicinal plants that are a part of our
national heritage. Genetic Modification poses a real threat to such
plants that are being used for medicinal purpose by all systems of
medicine. The life you have so vividly described in your well
illustrated and meticulously written book is already under threat as
Biotechnology Research Institutes in Kerala have begun research into
such commonly used and essential medicinal plants as Brahmi and
Ashwagandha. Both of these medicinal plants have found mention in your
valuable book.

 

Our
Hon’ble Union Health Minister, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, has publicly
protested against the introduction of GM crops after going through
research findings made available to him. The
regulatory officials seem very concerned about “public health” but do
not find it necessary to consult the Health Ministry on the subject.
They have also said that it is not necessary to educate doctors so that
they can prevent, diagnose and treat the various health problems that
will result from the consumption of GM food and crops. Their only
motive seems to introduce this highly controversial and widely
protested food into India at any cost. They also do not mind that the
patents of such seeds will “be held by the seed companies as long as
they wish to.”

 

Dr
Pushpa Bhargava, appointed by the Supreme Court to look into the
regulatory process resorted by the Genetic Engineering Approval
Committee, has come across gross irregularities. He has decried the
method of approval that relies solely on the “summary results”
presented by the seed manufacturers. He has called for a moratorium so
that the country can build up the required infrastructure to test such
food, and monitor and protect human, animal health and biodiversity.

 

We
have been witness to eminent scientists of Orissa desperately opposing
GM food crops for adverse effected noted by them during laboratory
tests in the Biju Pattnaik Hall of the OUAT where a workshop on “Management and Monitoring of Field Trials of Genetically Engineered Crops” was
held on the 3rd January’09. Veterinary surgeons have questioned the
trial results approved the RCGM, GEAC and such other bodies. They have
informed that cattle and goats are suffering and dying in the cotton
cultivation districts of Orissa where large scale illegal cultivation
of Bt Cotton has taken place. Very senior scientific researchers have
warned against the inevitable consequences of widespread GM
contamination.

 

The
State Agriculture Secretary has personally cautioned against the
introduction of GM crops, even as he was forced to adopt a pro-GM
stance in this workshop sponsored by an organization formed to promote
GM food and crops in the country. In response a senior DBT official
referred to these eminent personalities as “donkeys” just because they
dared protest “scientific procedures”. We are enclosing a minutes of
the meeting that has been prepared by us after attending the aforesaid
meeting. We would request you to kindly go through it before deciding to introduce Bt Brinjal into Orissa.

We
strongly protest the highhanded methods that are being adopted by the
officials of the regulatory bodies to suppress the loud voice of
dissent emanating from respected Indian scientists all over the
country. As GM food crops like Bt Brinjal will be consumed by one
and all such coercive methods, which lack a proper scientific approach
and transparency, should not be resorted to in a democratic country
like India.

 

We
earnestly appeal to your goodself to kindly intervene and stop the
poisoning of brinjal, the favourite food of the Oriya’s in its many
preparations and which is consumed daily. The
lack of labelling which is an impossibility as confessed by the
regulatory regime will force the population to entirely boycott this
crop leading to loss of livelihood of the growers, distributors,
stockists and retailers of this profitable food crop.

 

We are sure we do not want such a scenario to emerge.

 

Respectfully yours,

 

 

(Debjeet Sarangi)  (Jagannath Chatterjee)