17 April 2003
Huge losses for Bt cotton farmers/Agent Orange use 'understated'/Suit filed against GE grass
Bt cotton farmers suffered losses, says Greenpeace
Suit Filed Against Genetically Altered Grass
[Monsanto's] Agent Orange use 'understated'
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Bt cotton farmers suffered losses, says Greenpeace
The Hindu
By Our Special Correspondent
http://hinduonnet.com/stories/2003041703430400.htm
BANGALORE APRIL 16. Farmers who cultivated Bt cotton have suffered huge losses, according to a study conducted by Greenpeace in three districts of the State.
The study on `Performance of Bt cotton in Karnataka' was conducted during February and March in Raichur, Dharwad, and Haveri districts. Karnataka was the second largest in the country in terms of area with Bt cotton being cultivated in 16,950 acres.
Ananthapadmanabhan, Executive Director, Greenpeace (India), told presspersons here today that the input costs for cultivation of Bt cotton were much higher than non-Bt cotton hybrids. As many as 77 per cent of farmers interviewed reported that bollworm affected Bt cotton plants.
Besides increase in pesticide and fertilizer costs, farmers reported a rise in labour costs as the cotton bolls were smaller in size and packing took a longer time. The Bt cotton seed is priced at Rs. 1,600 a packet while non-Bt cotton seed is priced at Rs. 450 per packet, he said.
The yield of Bt cotton and non-Bt cotton hybrids was more or less the same. However, in Raichur District, non-Bt cotton hybrids fared better. The market value for Bt cotton was lower than non-Bt cotton hybrids. This was because of the shorter staple fibres and the relatively dull colour of the cotton fibre, the study pointed out.
The market price of Bt cotton was between Rs. 1,600 and Rs. 2,100 a quintal against Rs. 1,750 and Rs. 2,600 for non-Bt cotton in the Raichur market. In Dharwad, the market value for Bt cotton was Rs. 800 less than that of the non-Bt cotton hybrid, the study said.
Mr. Ananthapadmanabhan said the Congress-led Opposition in Andhra Pradesh had secured compensation for farmers who had suffered crop loss. But the State Government in Karnataka was yet to acknowledge the truth on Bt cotton failure. The Union and State governments were protecting the U.S. multinational, Monsanto, and its Indian partner, Mahyco, which introduced Bt cotton in the country, he charged. The Indian Government approved commercial cultivation of the first genetically modified crop, Bt cotton, on March 26 last year. Farmers in six States, who took up its cultivation, reported negative results. The Centre and the State Government were providing wrong information on Bt cotton output and fabricating reports, charged Divya Raghunandan, a Greenpeace campaigner.
Greenpeace demanded that Monsanto be made to pay compensation for the loss incurred by farmers in the State due to failure of the Bt cotton crop. It also called for withdrawal of Bt cotton seeds from the market.
It urged the State Government to blacklist Monsanto and disallow it from deluding farmers with its propaganda.
In a press release, the President of a faction of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, M.D.Nanjundaswamy, said: "From the field trials up to the harvest, the claims of the seed companies have been belied."
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Suit Filed Against Genetically Altered Grass
By Ohio State University Extension
4/16/2003
http://www.lawnandlandscape.com/news/news.asp?ID=1324
A group called the International Center for Technology Assessment has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture to halt the commercialization of genetically engineered lawn grasses.
The lawsuit demands that the USDA list the genetically altered product as noxious weeds. The lawsuit is based on the development of varieties of creeping bentgrass and Kentucky bluegrass that are able to resist the herbicide Roundup or glyphosate. The new grasses could be used in golf courses as well as residential and commercial lawns.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit contend that these grasses invade parks, wildernesses and other natural areas creating a control problem for managers.
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Agent Orange use 'understated'
By Richard Black
BBC Science correspondent
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2954729.stm
The United States military used much more Agent Orange and other defoliant spray during the Vietnam war than previously thought, scientists say.
A new study of US military records also found that the amount of cancer-causing dioxin chemicals in the spray has been seriously underestimated.
The report, commissioned by the US Government, is the culmination of a five-year project by environmental health experts at New York's Columbia University.
Between 1961 and 1971, the US military sprayed parts of southern Vietnam with defoliant chemicals - such as Agent Orange - with the aim of allowing the Americans and their South Vietnamese allies to spot Vietcong forces moving in the forests.
The Columbia team painstakingly examined operational records of individual spraying missions in Vietnam, and cross-referenced them with procurement records showing which kinds of defoliant were used at which times.
They conclude that 100 million litres of Agent Orange were used rather than 70m litres as has been estimated previously.
But according to project leader Professor Jeanne Stellman, the most significant finding concerns dioxins - chemicals known to cause cancer.
"We think there was at least twice as much dioxin as had been thought before - and that number is a conservative estimate because it seems very likely that much of the earlier Agent Orange was much more heavily contaminated with dioxin," Professor Stellman said.
'Millions' affected
Her team has published their work in the scientific journal Nature.
But it also forms part of a report which the US Department of VeteransAffairs commissioned from the National Academy of Sciences.
It will almost certainly increase pressure within the United States for a comprehensive medical assessment of veterans exposed to Agent Orange, but also pressure from within Vietnam for assistance and compensation.
The Columbia team concludes that "millions of Vietnamese were likely to have been sprayed upon directly".
Previous research has found that some Vietnamese have 200 times the normal level of dioxin in their bodies.