India Says NO to GMO

UPDATE: 2/12/10 Monsanto 'faked' data for approvals claims its ex-chief
UPDATE: 2/10/10

Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use:The First Thirteen Years
Compared to pesticide use in the absence of GE crops, farmers applied 318 million more pounds of pesticides over the last 13 years as a result of planting GE seeds.

Monsanto's GMO perversion of food
In the 2010 growing season Monsanto plans to unleash its latest Frankenfood experiment on the American and Canadian public, a new version of genetically mutated corn with eight abnormal gene traits called Genuity SmartStax corn. It is the culmination of an astonishing scandal that has been steadily building over the past decade.

2/9/10 Many people do not like eggplant, however I am not one of them.  I am much more in support of doing away with all GMO crops because of the inherent danger they pose to health.

India has deferred the commercial cultivation of what would have been its first genetically modified (GM) vegetable crop due to safety concerns.  

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said more studies were needed to ensure genetically modified aubergines were safe for consumers and the environment.
The GM vegetable has undergone field trials since 2008 and received approval from government scientists in 2009.
But there has been a heated public row over the cultivation of the GM crop.

The BBC's Geeta Pandey, who was at the news conference in Delhi, says Mr Ramesh's decision has put any cultivation of GM vegetables in India on hold indefinitely.
'Difficult decision'
"Public sentiment is negative. It is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary, principle-based approach," Mr Ramesh said.

“ The decision is responsible to science and responsive to society ”
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh

He said the moratorium on growing BT brinjal - as the variety of aubergine is known in India - would remain in place until tests were carried out "to the satisfaction of both the public and professionals".
The minister said "independent scientific studies" were needed to establish "the safety of the product from the point of view of its long-term impact on human health and environment".
Mr Ramesh said it was "a difficult decision to make" since he had to "balance science and society".
"The decision is responsible to science and responsive to society," he said.
India is the largest producer of aubergines in the world and grows more than 4,000 varieties.
Indian seed company Mahyco - partner of US multinational corporation Monsanto - which has developed BT brinjal, says the GM vegetable is more resistant to natural pests.
But anti-GM groups say there are serious health concerns and they allege that consumption of GM crops can even cause cancer.
The government-controlled Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) approved BT brinjal for commercial cultivation in October 2009.
Following an uproar from farmers and anti-GM activists, the environment minister held a series of national consultation meetings across India.
Several of the aubergine-growing Indian states have already said they were opposed to BT brinjal.
India allowed the use of genetically modified seeds for cotton in 2002.

Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/8506047.stm

Published: 2010/02/09 13:48:04 GMT, © BBC MMX

The Real Thanksgiving

Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World

By Jack Weatherford

(NY: Ballantine Books, 1989. 288 pp. $15.00, ISBN-10 0449904962)
Native American Studies/ American History

“Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492, but America has yet to be discovered.” Jack Weatherford’s provocative book “Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World” seeks to change that.

He makes the reader aware that the average American today knows more about ancient Egypt “than we know about the pyramid builders of the Mississippi.”

It comes as a bit of a surprise to realize the truth of his statement, but even here in Lake County where the Pomo have lived for 10,000 years, most folks in Lake County probably could tell you more about the pyramids of ancient Egypt than they could tell you about the Pomo people.

Granted, the Pomo did not build pyramids, but they did build a society that thrived for thousands of years – here in the same place we are living today – not thousands of miles away. As a young nation, not even 400 years old, we have much to learn from our elders.

“Indian Givers” explores what modern society has learned from the native peoples throughout the Americas, even if we have not given them full (or any) credit for the original knowledge.

Some of this will not come as any surprise to the reader – particularly in the area of agriculture. It is well known that many new foods were introduced to the earliest European settlers by the natives, corn and potatoes perhaps being the most well known. The immense diversity of foods may come as a shock, however, as well as their impact, not just on the pilgrims, but around the globe.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of using herbal remedies but the surgical skills of the Aztecs far surpassed simply knowing which bark made good aspirin or could be used to prevent malaria. Weatherford claims that the Aztecs’ obsidian knives would equal the surgical steel of today and is only bettered by the precision of lasers.

The Aztecs knew how to perform a variety of surgeries, from the mundane to brain surgery, although Weatherford acknowledges they most likely had such advanced knowledge because they practiced human sacrifice.

Perhaps the most surprising knowledge Weatherford maintains we gained from the native peoples is in the arena of politics. He argues that the fledgling American government bore more resemblance to the League of the Iroquois than the Greek Senate or English House of Lords and that the Founding Fathers learned the practical potential of liberty from a variety of tribal communities.

Going a step further Weatherford proposes that the first person to suggest that the colonies form a united body of some sort was the Iroquois chief Canassatego in July of 1744, 32 years before the Declaration of Independence.

The scholarship in “Indian Givers” is well documented but not ponderous as to detract form the story telling style of Weatherford. Overall it's an excellent read, and as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, it may just inspire you to give thanks for the wealth of knowledge we have gained from the Aztecs, Iroquois and countless other tribal communities whose histories and knowledge ought be remembered.

Geri Williams