1.Contamination of rice in Jharkhand
2.Mahyco's Bt brinjal encounters health safety roadblocks
3.Study shows Mahyco's Bt brinjal is unsafe
4.Bt Brinjal unsafe, say protesters
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1.Gene Campaign alleges contamination of rice in Jharkhand
January 20 2009
http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/482547/Business/4/20/4
New Delhi - Gene Campaign today alleged that genetically modified Bt rice belonging to the Mahyco company has contaminated rice in Jharkhand.
GM rice carrying the Bt gene was planted by the Mahyco company in field trials in Saparong village in Ranchi violating all rules prescribed by the government for such testing, Gene Campaign said in a statement.
Gene Campaign is a leading NGO working in the field of genetically modified crops.
The trial plots of GM rice were located unprotected, right in the middle of farmers&aposfields, without any physical containment by a boundary wall, netting or other means to keep the GM rice segregated from the surrounding natural rice fields, it said.
This is a serious violation which can lead to contamination of natural rice in the region with very negative consequences for rice genetic diversity and ultimately, food security, Gene Campaign Convenor Suman Sahai said.
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2.Mahyco's Bt brinjal encounters health safety roadblocks
ASHOK B SHARMA
Financial Express, January 18 2009
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/mahycos-bt-brinjal-encounters-health-safety-roadblocks/412210/0
New Delhi: The commercial release of Mahyco's Bt brinjal has run into rough weather, with the Union health ministry and consumers' organisations questioning about the health safety aspect. In the 91st meeting of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee GEAC), the representative from the health ministry raised the issue of health safety on the basis of some international studies.
The Union health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss has also recently taken cognisance of the developments, after pressures from NGOs and farmers' organisations. The Supreme Court's nominee and noted biotechnologist Pushpa M Bhargava has been equally critical of GEAC's hurry to release GM food crops without adequate bio-safety studies. Mahyco, however, continues to claim absolute safety of its product.
The NGOs campaign against the release of Bt binjal has been fuelled by global studies questioning the health and bio-safety generated by developer Mahyco, which has borrowed the technology from the US seed multinational Monsanto. The first such study to come in recent times was that by a team headed by Gilles-Eric Séralini of the France-based Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN). This study is followed by that of the Australia-based Institute of Health and Environmental Research Inc (IHER).
Judy Carman and her team at IHER found that the type of studies undertaken by Mahyco were insufficient to prove the health safety of Bt brinjal. The study alleged that there have been no reproductive studies and the studies that have been done, often used animals and measurements that were inappropriate or insufficient measures of human health.
The methodology and results were often insufficiently reported to be able to determine what the studies were actually measuring or how various variables were measured.
Included in this, the study said that the statistical results have not been reported to a suitable standard. For example, means, standard deviations, and p-values, which would be required for any peer-reviewed scientific journal, were not done. The sample sizes were insufficient to be able to find statistical difference for many measurements even if real clinical differences were occurring between groups. Indeed, much of the research presented by Mahyco could be regarded as being burdened with Type II error. This type of statistical error occurs when sample sizes are so low that the study cannot realistically be expected to find a difference between groups of animals even if clinical differences were occurring, the study said.
The study concluded that in such a situation, Bt brinjal was unsafe for human consumption and would expose 1.15 billion Indians to health hazards, particularly children, expectant mothers and elderly persons. Cancer, autoimmune problems, heart diseases, diabetes, or infectious diseases may be the outcome.
The pro-GMO lobby has, however, raised the issue that food and environmental security can be achieved, by citing the Environmental Resource Indicators report recently released at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting by Field to Market, the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture.
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3.Study shows Mahyco's Bt brinjal is unsafe
ASHOK B SHARMA
Financial ERxpress, January 9 2009
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/study-shows-mahycos-bt-brinjal-is-unsafe/408810/0
New Delhi: An independent analysis of Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company's (Mahyco) Bt brinjal bio-safety data revealed that it was unsafe for human consumption.
The finding was based on the dossiers submitted by the seed company in its application to the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) requesting for commercial release of Bt brinjal.
The study was submitted by a team headed by Gilles-Eric Séralini of France-based Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN) which concluded that Bt brinjal might be a serious risk to human and animal health.
The study noted, "The parameters affected in animals fed with Bt brinjal are in blood cells or chemistry, but in different manners according to the period of measurement during the study or sex. In goats, the prothrombin time is modified and biochemical parameters such as total bilirubin and alkaline phosphates are also changed, as well as feed consumption and weight gain. For rabbits, less consumption was noted and also prothrombin time modification, higher bilirubin in some instances, albumin, lactose dehydrogenase and the hepatic markers alanine and aspartate aminotransferases. Sodium levels were also modified, as well as glucose, platelet count, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration and haematocrit value. In cows, milk production and composition changed by 10%-14% ."
"Rats which were GM-fed had diarrhoea, had higher water consumption, suffered from decrease in liver weight as well as decrease in the relative liver to body weight ratio. Feed intake was modified in broiler chickens with glucose in some instances. Average feed conversion and efficiency ratios are changed in GM-fed fish. All that makes a very coherent picture of Bt brinjal to be potentially unsafe for human consumption. It will be also potentially unsafe to eat animals who have these problems. These differences are most often not reported in the summaries of different experiments, but are present in the raw data, "the study added.
According to the study, these differences were, when discussed, disregarded often on the grounds that they were within the range of a wide "reference" group. The reference group represents a wide range of brinjal types and is not a strict comparison. Other reasons for disregarding the differences were that they did not show linear dose response or time response, or that they were only present in either males or females, but not both. Such declarations that the differences seen were not of biological relevance and unsubstantiated by the data presented from the feeding trials.
Clear and significant differences were seen to increase food safety concerns and warrant further investigation. Bt brinjal cannot be considered as safe as its non-GM counterpart, the study concluded.
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4.Bt Brinjal unsafe, say protesters
Express News Service, 19 Jan 2009
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Bt+Brinjal+unsafe,+say+protesters&artid=Dm|NLurA9JE=
BANGALORE: Members of the collective 'I am no lab rat' staged a protest in front of Health Minister B Sriramalu’s residence demanding a ban on Bt Brinjal (genetically modified brinjal) throughout the state.
“Several studies, including a recent one by Prof Gilles-Eric Seralini of the Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering, have exposed the ill-effects of Bt Brinjal. The Kerala government has declared the state GM-free. Karnataka should do the same,” said state convenor of the GM-Free Karnataka campaign G Krishna Prasad.
The protest was part of a campaign undertaken by the group throughout the state. “Unless the state government bans GM food in the state, the first GM product Bt Brinjal will hit the shelves in a few months. This cannot be allowed, as the safety analysis data of these products are found to be flawed,” Krishnaprasad said.