NEWS FROM INDIA
1.India's Health Minister's speech on YouTube
2.GM foods are a health risk: Ramadoss
3.Government should not allow GM Food in Gujarat: experts
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1.India's Health Minister's speech on YouTube
Link: http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=ta_4sNgM7qI

Here's the translation.

Health Minister Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, at Kancheepuram, 9 Dec 2008:

Pattali Makkal Katchi [Indian political party] has always opposed GM seeds. 

As a Minister of PMK and also as the Union Health Minister, I will continue opposing it.

As far as the recent controversy is concerned, Bt Brinjal is being brought into the country without proper research on its safety.

We should oppose it collectively. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as a policy, will ensure holistic research (of Bt brinjal) is done - including health impacts and farmers issues. We will not let it in India otherwise.

See also the articles in the Indian daily The Hindu:
http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/10/stories/2008121054150400.htm
http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/10/stories/2008121054150400.htm
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2.GM foods are a health risk: Ramadoss
The Times of India, 10 December 2008

Bangalore: Genetically modified (GM) crops were always the subject of debate which became more intense after the government announced plans to commercialize Bt brinjal, a GM variety [of aubergine/eggplant].

Since the health impact of GM food are unpredictable, civic groups, individuals and NGOs from across India were campaigning to get the minister to make a comment on the safety of GM modified food. Almost as if in response, Anbumani Ramadoss on Tuesday declared GM food as hazardous to health, at a farmers meeting at Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu.

The meeting was organized by farmers associated with a PMK-associated farmers' movement and several organic farmers' groups, and attended by about 5,000 farmers. Anbumani's father and PMK founder S Ramadoss was also present.

"GM food is a health hazard. No independent health impact tests have been conducted on the safety of Bt brinjal. But people are pushing for its introduction in the market. The health ministry will take all necessary steps to see that GM food is not commercialized unless all the safety criteria are met. As a minister of PMK and as the health minister, I will always oppose this technology," Anbumani said.

S Ramadoss also echoed the sentiments and said that instead of encouraging unpredictable crops like these, people should take measures to ban them.

Ban sought

The farmers at the meeting signed a 26-point declaration which includes a ban on GM seeds and the promotion of traditional variety of seeds.

Greenpeace India said if the minister keeps his promise, people could be saved from unsafe GM food crops.
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3.Government should not allow GM Food in Gujarat: experts
New Kerala, Dec 10 2008
http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-58360.html

Ahmedabad,: Experts here have demanded that Gujarat government should not allow any Genetically Modified (GM) food or crops in the state and asked the government to take a pro-active stand on the issue.

Speaking to mediapersons here Kavitha Kuruganti, member-secretary of the Coalition for a GM-Free India, said, ''Given the various adverse health impacts documented with GM foods from all across the world, including the latest official Austrian study that shows fertility problems with such foods, the Gujarat government should give up its apathy and silence on the issue.'' The Vadodara-based organic farming group pointed out that as the Central government's regulators move closer to the first GM food crop being approved in India (Bt Brinjal), the urgency of state governments taking a pro-active stand on the issue becomes more significant. For instance Kerala has already announced that it will not allow any GM crops/foods into the state.

While cotton farmers in Gujarat have earned good incomes by cultivating Bt cotton, it is also a fact that its cultivation prompted some of them to commit suicides and other farmers are experiencing various problems.

'' While this is the case of a non-food crop, we are now standing on the verge of the first GM food crop from being approved and this is expected to have serious implications for all of us as consumers of food,'' said Kapil Shah of Jatan Trust.

'' Genetic engineering with our food and farming is inherently risky and irreversible. Scientific evidences on GM foods shows that allergies, impaired growth and development, organ damage, reproductive health problems and even inter-generational adverse effects are to be expected with such foods,'' he noted.

The toxins produced by Bt (Bacillus Thuringiensis) genes in food crops like Bt Maize (on mice) and Bt Potato (on humans) have clearly shown various adverse health effects in different studies.
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They hang the man, and flog the woman,
That steals the goose from off the common;
But let the greater villain loose,
That steals the common from the goose.
[anonymous 17th century poem]