Govt.

Should put Moratorium on all GM Crops

Dr. Krishan Bir Chaudhary
Bharatiya Krishak Samaj is against the irreversible, uncontrolled, and potentially
dangerous release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment. We
are also concerned about the health hazards of GM products. The International Scientists
community have given their reports and proved that GM Crops cannot increase the
productivity and cannot feed the hunger.

There should be Mandatory Labelling of all GM products, irrespective of the percentage

traces of GM materials present in the product in any form whatsoever. Labelling norms
should clearly state that it is a GM product. There should be no soft provision to state "May
Contain GM Traces" . GM products is entering in the market illegally through imports . As of
now only approved GM product in the country is Bt cotton. But we are sorry to note free
clandestine imports of GM seeds and GM food and feed into the country, flouting all regulatory
norms. Unapproved imported GM seeds are being cultivated in this country, in blatant violation
of bio safety norms.

Adequate tests should be done in the country to establish the safety of GM products to be approved
for imports .Test should establish safety of health and environment .The process and results of such
tests should be made transparent . If such adequate tests cannot be conducted in the country to
establish health and environment safety, precautionary principles of the Cartagena Protocol on Bio
safety should be applied to deny imports of GM products for food, feed, processing and cultivation.
However for research purposes, imports may be allowed, but with a strict provision of not allowing its
release in the environment. Caution should be taken that the research materials are not clandestinely
diverted for use in food, feed and processing for consumption.

Here is the relevant portion of the Cartagena Protocol : lack of scientific certainty due to insufficient
knowledge regarding the extent of the potential adverse effects of a living modified organism on
conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity in the Party of import, taking also into account
risks to human health, shall not prevent that Party from taking a decision , as appropriate, with regard to
the import of the living modified organisms in question.....to avoid or minimise such potential adverse
effects."

There are in pipeline a number of GM food crops for approval. There is no sufficient sophisticated
mechanism in this country to establish the safety of GM crops. The most worrying situation has been
created by the India-US Knowledge Initiate in Agriculture Research and Education.Through this
pact US is putting pressure to relax our regulatory norms on GM products.

Now the Govt. is planning to dismantle GEAC of environment ministry and to set up an
autonomous regulator under ministry of science and technology for all GM products. Such a
move would be dangerous the GEAC should continue under ministry of environment and issues
related to environment , human and animal health should be vigorously addressed with
transparency . Health ministry & ICMR should be more responsible and they should be
agressive in expressing concerns over the safety of GM foods .

We, therefore, demand a moratorium on release of all GM crops .

KRISHAN BIR CHAUDHARY
 Vol. 1 No. 5 May, 2010

KISAN KI AWAAZ
National Magazine of Farmers’ Voice
Editor :

Dr. Krishan Bir Chaudhary,

President,
CONTENTS
Bharatiya Krishak Samaj,
F-1/A, Pandav Nagar, Scientists letter to Prime Minister... 2
Delhi-110091

Advisory Board : Yagya for Bountiful Rains.. 6

Ashok B. Sharma
S. P. Gulati, Sect. G.O.I., Retd. Social Costs of Globalisation... 7
Lingraj B. Patil — * Helena Norberg-Hodge
Dr. Mangesh Deshmukh
Dr. R.B. Thakare Independent People’s Tribunal... 10
D. Guruswamy, Adv.
Rajesh Sharma “Bittoo”
Pratap Singh, DIG Retd.
Hatam Singh Nagar, Adv.
Genetically Modified Soy Linked... 12
K. Sareen — * Jeffrey Smith
Ajay Singh
Genetically Modified Crops are not... 19
Desiged by : Rahul Sharma — * Dr. Hans Herren and Dr. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman

Printed & Published by : Stifling the Economy... 21

— * Robert E. Lighithize
Dr. Krishan Bir Chaudhary on behalf of
Bharatiya Krishak Samaj. Why Go Organic? 23

Printed at Everest Press, E-49/8, Okhla

Industrial Area, Phase-II, New Delhi-20. IRRI’s Board Meeting... 25
Published at :
The Benefits of Wheatgrass... 27
F-1/A, Pandav Nagar, Delhi-110091 — * Dr. Ann Wigmore
Mob.:9810331366, Telefax:011-22751281,
kbc@kisankiawaaz.org [kk| lqj{kk dkuwu vkSj d`f”k mRiknu... 30
E-mail:bharatiyakrishaksamaj@gmail.com
— * Ikzdk'k HkVV

The views expressed by the US Farmers Oppose “Big Ag”... 31

authors are their own. The
editor does not accept
responsibility for returning
unsolicited publication material.
Disputes arising if any will be
under Jurisdiction of Delhi
Court
---- * Dr. Eva Novotny
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May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz 1

 GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS:
INDEPENDENT SCIENTISTS WRITE TO THE PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA
This sign-on letter is prompted by the communication, authored in July, 2009, by Mr Prithviraj
Chauhan, written in his capacity at that time as Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office.
This letter entitled “Concern on Introduction of Genetically Engineered Crops and Food” was
an official response to a letter from Dr A Ramadoss, addressed to Prime Minister Dr
Manmohan Singh , dated 2nd February 2009, when he held the portfolio as India's Minister of
Health.
In its opening paragraph it says: “the various issues raised virus resistance and improved product quality.
in your letter have been examined carefully and by This statement broadly oversteps the facts and is in fact
applying the best scientific evidence available today”. erroneous.
However, the signatories to this letter wish to respectfully
bring to the attention of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan  More than 95% of all GM crops are engineered to
Singh, numerous factual and scientific errors within the either synthesise an insecticide (Bt toxin) or to tolerate a
Chauhan letter. From the content of this letter and its broad spectrum herbicide (e.g. Roundup, Liberty) or both.
phraseology, it is apparent that much of it was excerpted  Despite many years of research, no GM crop is
directly from promotional materials of the agricultural currently “deployed” with “improved product quality” as is
biotechnology industry, in particular the International claimed.
Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications  To date there are only four major commercialised
(ISAAA), an organisation that at best can be described as GM crops (soya, maize/corn, cotton, canola/oilseed rape)
pseudo-scientific, funded primarily by Monsanto and other most of which (soya, corn, canola) are used primarily as
biotechnology multinational companies and whose animal feed. All were commercialised in the late 90's. Since
purpose is to promote and facilitate the commercial then, no other commercially viable GM crop application
introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops in the has made it to market, especially due to farmers not
developing world. Inaccurate information has led to accepting other GM crops (such as wheat, potatoes, and
erroneous policy on GM crops and Bt brinjal in particular. rice) for negative economic reasons (lack of buyers, loss of
Therefore, in the context of the current debate on the export markets).
introduction in India of its first major GM food crop, Bt  GM crops have not been widely accepted around
brinjal, to be grown on a commercial scale, we strongly the world. 95% of all GM food crops are grown in only 5
urge the Prime Minister to consider the factual and countries: the US, Canada, Australia, Argentina, and
authoritative scientific content of this letter. Brazil. If you include fibre crops (cotton) India and China
would be included. Only one GM crop is approved for
We hope that this letter will help to bring the true facts of cultivation within the European Union, MON810 corn,
GM crops into the open to enable an informed discussion which has been banned by several member states invoking
on their unique risks to food security, farming systems and documented health and especially environmental risks.
bio-safety impacts which are ultimately irreversible. We  Only two minor food crops have been released in
urge the Prime Minister, for the sake of the safety of the the USA (squash, papaya) and one in Mexico (squash),
Indian people, and the welfare of Indian farmers, to re- which are engineered in an attempt to make them virus
address the official position on GM crops. The global resistant. The outcome has been a mixed blessing; GM
community needs India to lead in the matter of exemplary squash is resistant to some viruses but renders it more
regulation of these crops. susceptible to attack by beetles.

We highlight some of the many major inaccuracies found in
the Chauhan letter in italicized quotes, followed by our
comments with numbers in parentheses indicating items in
the list of supporting References.
I. “With the rapid progress in
advanced biology, biotech crops have been developed with
the help of genetic engineering tools to possess special
characteristics that make them better. ----also known as
Genetically Modified (GM) or Genetically Engineered
(GE) crops. The most common traits deployed in biotech
crops so far include insect resistance, herbicide tolerance,
ii. “It is expected that development of crops with
tolerance to drought and salinity, improved nitrogen use
efficiency, enhanced yield, quality and nutritional
properties coupled with existing traits will be technically
feasible in the near future and be a real value addition in
India. From a technological perspective, what is feasible
tomorrow is even more promising but scientists and Indian
Industry need a predicable regulatory and social
environment. At the national level, it will make agriculture
more efficient and competitive to meet the challenges of
hunger, poverty, malnutrition and food security in

2 Kisan Ki Awaaz May - 2010

tomorrow's world (Global Knowledge Centre on Crop
Biotechnology, 2008)”
These “promises” taken verbatim from ISAAA industry
promotional material do not match either scientific fact or
reality.
 “tolerance to drought and salinity, improved
nitrogen use efficiency, enhanced yield, quality and
nutritional properties” are hypothetical claims which have
been made by industry for 15 years. Despite vast sums
invested in research they have failed to deliver on these
promises. The listed traits are genetically complex. The
basic problem is that GM as employed in agriculture is
conceptually flawed, crude, imprecise and poorly
controlled technology , that is incapable of generating
plants that contain the required multiple, co-ordinately
regulated genes that work in an integrated way to respond
to environmental challenges.
 Contrastingly, crop varieties already exist that are unpredictable changes in weather, which requires that a
tolerant to drought or salinity, or have improved nitrogen
use efficiency either naturally or specifically bred by
conventional methods, and augmented in some cases by
modern non-GM biotechnology gene mapping (“marker
assisted selection”; MAS). For example a novel upland rice
variety, Birsa Vikas Dhan 111 (PY 84), has recently been
released in Jharkhand bred using backcrossing augmented
with MAS with selection for multiple traits for improved
root growth and performance under drought conditions .
These methods are sustainable and safer approaches to crop
improvement, less expensive and give significantly higher
returns on investment. A fundamental redirection is
required in agricultural investment in these areas.
 GM has failed to produce crops with improved
nitrogen use efficiency whereas conventional breeding and
improved farming methods have made significant
improvements in this area .
iii. “The most compelling case for biotechnology and
more specifically biotech crops, is their capability to
contribute to increasing crop productivity, conserving
biodiversity, reducing the environmental footprint of
agriculture, mitigating climate change and reducing
greenhouse gases, increasing stability of productivity and
production, the improvement of economic, health and
social benefits, the cost-effective production of renewable
resource-based biofuels and thus provide significant and
important multiple and mutual benefits to producers,
consumers and global society.”
These claims again are a reiteration of industry promotional involved around 400 scientists and twice that number of
material and have no basis in science or the empirical
evidence relating to the performance of GM crops.
 ProductivityGM has not increased yield potential.
Yields from GM crops to date have been no better and in the
case of GM soya have been consistently lower. A 2009
report reviewing more than 20 academic studies clearly
shows that the cultivation of GM herbicide-tolerant
soybeans has not increased yields. Insect-resistant corn,
May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz
meanwhile, has at best only improved yields marginally.
This report found that increase in yields for both crops over
the last 13 years was due to traditional breeding or
improvements in agricultural practices .
 Conserving biodiversityIn South America, GM
soy has been instrumental in speeding destruction of the
Amazon rainforest
 Reducing the environmental footprint of
agricultureGM crops have led to vast increases in pesticide
use, not decreases and therefore reduction of agricultural
pollution cannot be claimed .
 Mitigating climate changeNo-till agriculture using
herbicide-tolerant GM seeds does not reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. Contrastingly, the high soil carbon
sequestration within organic matter inherently produced by
agro-ecological farming methods markedly reduces
greenhouse gas emissions .
 Climate change brings sudden, extreme, and
cropping system be flexible, resilient and as genetically
diverse as possible. GM technology offers just the
opposite.
 Stability of productivity and productionis much
lower with many of the GM crops commercialised today.
Herbicide tolerant GM soya is far more sensitive to heat or
drought stress than conventional soya .
 Improvement of economic, health and social
benefitsconsistently, introduction of GM crops is linked to
loss of markets and degradation of rural communities , and
evidence continues to mount regarding the health hazards
of GM crops .
 BiofuelsReports from the World Bank and the
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation have
identified the biofuels boomnot lack of GM foodsas the
main cause of the current food crisis .
 The IAASTD report* concludes that GM crops do
not increase yield, have little to offer global agriculture and
food security and the challenges of poverty, hunger and
climate change. Instead it recommends applying low-input
agro-ecological farming practices, whose use in the
developing world has produced dramatic increases in
yields and food security. [*The single largest research
exercise on global agriculture in history, which was
conducted with funding from multiple UN agencies and the
World Bank. This report, published as Agriculture at a
Crossroads, was produced under the auspices of the
International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge,
Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). It
peer-reviewers. It underwent two rounds of open
international peer-review and was ratified overwhelmingly
at the intergovernmental plenary in April 2008, including
by India.]
iv. “The concerns conveyed by you that the
technology may induce instability in genetic level and have
adverse health impact is not supported by scientific
evidence”.
3
This is a scientifically indefensible statement because:
 GM transformation can produce novel
biochemical processes that are unpredictable and for which
there is no natural history to assume are safe.
 The GM transformation process is highly
mutagenic leading to disruptions to host plant genetic
structure and function, which in turn leads to disturbances
in the biochemistry of the plant. This can lead to novel toxin medium and long-term (life-long) health impacts it is
and allergen production as well as reduced/altered
nutritional quality.
 It is not a question of if there are disturbances to and chronic health impacts, which is essential because it is
gene function and biochemistry but to what degree they
will be present within any given GM plant. For example,
the levels of more than 40 proteins are altered significantly 
in the commercialised GM MON810 corn compared to
equivalent non-GM corn, which included production of a
new allergenic protein.
 Numerous animal feeding studies demonstrate
negative health impacts of GM feed on kidney, liver, gut,
blood cells, blood biochemistry and the immune system.
 Of greatest concern is that studies show negative
health effects with GM crops that have already been
approved and which have been grown commercially for 10-
13 years. This highlights the inadequacy of the original
criteria and set of data on the basis of which marketing
approval was and is still being granted.
Note: MON810 has since been banned by many EU
countries including France and Germany.
V. “Biotech or GM crops are approved for
environmental clearance/commercial release by regulatory
authorities after passing through various regulatory stages
starting from IBSC-MEC, RCGM and GEAC. The three-
tier system is in the hands of the best scientists,
technologists, agricultural and environmental experts in the
country.... The regulatory system is adequate, reliable,
efficient and transparent.... These SOPs are consistent with
best international practices”.
This position oversteps the mark and is technically
inaccurate as highlighted above and as further evidenced
below:
 India's Regulators do not require independent bio-
safety tests, but uncritically accept as evidence of safety,
research conducted by the company who is applying for
commercial clearance of the product. This raises serious
questions regarding impartiality and conflicts of interest,
which are clearly justified, based on published evidence of
bias in the research conducted by industry that is contrary to 
accepted normal scientific conduct.
 GM food compositional analysis is superficial and
the minimum required to establish “substantial
equivalence”, a scientifically conceptually flawed
parameter that is virtually meaningless with respect to
determining health risk.
 Experimental design used by the applicant is
flawed, almost invariably containing irrelevant “control”
non-GM comparator crop varieties, which serve to mask
4 Kisan Ki Awaaz May - 2010
rather than to isolate and reveal the effect of the GM
transformation process.
 The biological testing required is not adequate to
detect either acute or chronic toxic effects of GM foods. At
best, only 90-day feeding studies are required by the
government's SOPs without an obligatory requirement for
toxicological and histological evaluation. In order to assess
necessary to conduct lifetime and multigenerational
feeding studies. Only these will reliably determine fertility
the intension that people will be eating GM foods for their
whole lifetime.
Experimental data is invariably not made
publically available for independent scientific scrutiny
under the pretext of commercial confidentiality. This has
required court action (both in Europe and India) in order to
obtain the information needed to assess the quality of the
research submitted by industry to be scrutinised by
authoritative bio-safety experts. Such independent re-
evaluation of submitted industry data has repeatedly found
that this research and its interpretation thereof to be flawed,
inadequate, biased and thus misleading.
 All of the above points are directly relevant to the
current safety dossier of Bt brinjal and imply that the Indian
government's current requirements for GM food safety
assessment are inadequate and need to be augmented.
vi. “Given that the discovery and use of Bt has
completed hundred years in 2002 and Bt technology has a
long history of safety, proven efficacy and benefits, Bt
brinjal promises to be of great value to Indian farmers. It
may be noted that those who stand to gain from wide use of
pesticides, often provide misleading information for
commercial interests. The GM food assessed and approved
through rigorous science based regulatory process has
been endorsed by Nobel laureates and leading global
scientists”.
This statement ignores research showing:
 Bt toxin is a proven potent immunogen raising
justifiable concerns that it can give rise to allergic
reactions.
 Animals fed diets containing Bt corn have shown
signs of direct toxicity.
 Independent re-evaluation of Monsanto's own
research on their Bt corn crops shows negative health
effects even in short-term (90-day) animal feeding studies.
The Mahyco-Monsanto dossier of the raw
experimental data of animal feeding studies with Bt brinjal
shows highly statistically significant negative signs of
toxicity on the functioning of multiple organ systems such
as liver, kidney, blood and pancreas in all animals tested
(especially rats, rabbits and goats). It is very important to
note that these adverse effects were observed after only at
most, a 90-day feeding time, which raises serious concerns
about the safety of consuming this product over an entire
lifetime. Long-term (at least 2-year) animal feeding
studies were not done and are stated as not required by the
apex Regulator, contrary to the science, which requires
these studies to detect chronic slow-onset toxicity and
cancer.
 There is therefore, no scientific justification for the 
safety claim of Bt brinjal by India's regulators, which are
based on an uncritical acceptance of the interpretation of
the data submitted by Mahyco-Monsanto. This has been
heavily criticised by eminent scientists of international
standing.
vi. “Biotech crops are environmentally friendly and
have contributed significantly to reducing the emission of
greenhouse gases from agricultural practice”.
These claims again simply quote material from industry
promotional material, which as noted above is not
supported by data in published peer review scientific
journals:
 GM crops are designed to be used in conjunction
with synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, which are
manufactured from oil and natural gas.
 GM crops do not reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
Recent data from the US Department of
Agriculture has shown a vast increase in herbicide use
since the introduction of GM crops tolerant to the
application of these agrochemicals.
 Therefore, the introduction of GM crops has
exacerbated rather than reduced agriculture's carbon
footprint and is clearly unsustainable.
Alternative proven technologies that can reduce the
amount of fossil fuel used in farming already exist. This
includes methods for reducing fertiliser applications,
selecting farm machinery appropriate for each task,
managing soil for conservation, limiting irrigation and
agro-ecological farming techniques.

Signed by World renowned Scientists

Dr Michael Antoniou, King's College London School of Medicine, UK (michael.antoniou@kcl.ac.uk)
Dr Thomas Bøhn, GenOk - Center for Biosafety, Tromso, Norway (thomas.bohn@uit.no)
Prof Philip L. Bereano, University of Washington, USA (pbereano@u.washington.edu)
Prof Marcello Buiatti, University of Florence, Italy (mbuiattister@gmail.com)
Prof Lawrence Busch, Michigan State University, USA (lbusch@msu.edu)
Prof Joe Cummins, University of Western Ontario, Canada (jcummins@uwo.ca)
Prof Jack A. Heinemann, University of Canterbury, New Zealand (jack.heinemann@canterbury.ac.nz)
Prof Angelika Hilbeck, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (angelika.hilbeck@env.ethz.ch)
Prof Malcolm Hooper, School of Sciences, University of Sunderland, UK (malcolm.hooper@virgin.net)
Prof Carlo Leifert, Newcastle University, UK (c.leifert@ncl.ac.uk)
Prof E R Orskov OBE, Macaulay Institute and Aberdeen University, UK (b.orskov@macaulay.ac.uk)
Prof Gilles-Eric Seralini, University of Caen, France (seralini.gilles-eric@neuf.fr)
Prof David Schubert, Salk Institute for Biological Sciences, California, USA (schubert@salk.edu)
Dr Joël Spiroux de Vendômois, CRIIGEN, Paris, France (jmspiroux@wanadoo.fr)
Prof Brian Wynne, Lancaster University, UK (b.wynne@lancaster.ac.uk)
Prof Louise Vandelac, University of Québec at Montreal, Canada (vandelac.louise@uqam.ca)
Dr Christian Vélot, University Paris-Sud, France (chriatian.velot@igmors.u-psud.fr)

May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz 5

Yagya for Bountiful Rains & Food Security
Water, the unique resource on the planet earth, is the
elixir for sustaining all forms of life. Our religious
scriptures have repeatedly mentioned the importance
of water and rivers in different contexts. Water is
quoted to be Life or "Jeevanam". Since respecting the
Nature was inborn, water was considered divine. Rig-
Veda is full of 'shlokas' in praise of Water, Sun and Air,
the three essentials of our environment. Lord Krishna
as revealed in the Episode on 'Kaliya Mardan, tried to
sensitize the people on pollution of surface water
bodies.
The importance of water as an important component
for enhancing agricultural production is well known.
It is estimated that by 2020, agriculture is expected to
use 29% more water to sustain the current level of
production, while the water availability is expected to
decrease by 12%.
Shri Chiranjilal Dhanuka Trust,
Vrindavan, a strong believer of
ancient wisdom and Vedic
traditions, for the first time,
under the sponsorship of
Dhanuka Agritech Limited,
New Delhi, which is actively
involved in the development of
t h e f a r m i n g c o m m u n i t y,
organized eleven Kundiya
Atirudra Mahayagya at the most sacred and revered
Sri Krishna Nagri, Vrindavan starting from New
Samvat-2067 (16 March 2010) to 24 March 2010.
The Yagyasthal was thronged daily by over 600
devotees (Renowned Agricultural Scientists, Vice
Chancellors of Agricultural Universities, Directors
of Agriculture, MPs and MLAs, Agri-Input
Distributors and Dealers, Progressive farmers,
Religious Heads, and Others).
During these nine days, over five
thousand devotees from fifteen
States across the country , namely
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat,
Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan , Uttar
6 Kisan Ki Awaaz
Pradesh, and West Bengal witnessed this mega event.
On the first day, a Seminar was organized on
'Rainwater Conservation and Food Security' in which
a large number of Farmers and Agri Input Dealers
from different States participated. Shri Prabhakar
Kelkar, President , Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and
Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary,
President, Bharatiya Krishak
Samaj highlighted the need to
conserve rainwater and
efficiently use the same during
dry spells.
Also drew the attention
towards the spiraling rise in
cost of inputs and wished that
the Government initiates steps for controlling the
price rise and ensure appropriate return to farmers. In
our country, droughts and low rainfall are now
becoming a recurring phenomenon and the most often
reasons ascribed for this are climate change and
global warming.
Food security is the backbone of the national security.
Enhancing food grain production is going to be a
herculean task as there is shrinking holding size,
decreasing availability of irrigation water, high cost
of inputs, non-remunerative price support, less
support for rural infrastructure development, etc. The
country has witnessed several major droughts which
seriously impacted farm output, created shortage of
drinking water, fodder deficiency for cattle and low
water in reservoir.
The Group Chairman Shri R. G. Agarwal, of Dhanuka
Agritech Limited, New Delhi in his welcome and
introductory remarks focused on reviving our
traditional rainwater harvesting traditions 'Gaon Ka
Paani Gaon Mein' and 'Khet Ka Paani Khet Mein'. He
said that in India more than 70% of annual rainfall
takes place during the three months of monsoon, and
only 30% of the rainwater is utilized, while the
remaining 70% goes as a run off to the sea carrying
with it precious soil and nutrients and causing losses
to human life and property through floods.
Contd on Page no.- 9
May - 2010
 Social Costs Of Globalisation
* Helena Norberg-Hodge
05 April, 2010 "... America is a new kind of society that
produces a new kind of human being. That human being
- confident, self-reliant, tolerant, generous, future-
oriented - is a vast improvement over the wretched,
servile, fatalistic and intolerant human being that
traditional societies have always produced.”
Dinesh D'Souza, What's So Great About America
Implicit in all the rhetoric our leaders spout about
globalisation is the idea that the rest of the world should
eventually be brought up to the standard of living of the
West, and America in particular. Read between the lines
of the 'sustainable development' argument and you'll
find the American Dream lurking: it is globalisation's
touchstone, its apparent endpoint.
But if this is the direction globalization is taking us, it is
worth examining where America itself is headed. A
good way to do so is to take a hard look at America's
children, since so many features of the global mono-
culture have been in place their whole lives.
They are like canaries in a mineshaft: if the American
Dream isn't working for them, why should anyone,
anywhere, believe it would work better for their own
children?
As it turns out, children in the US are far from
"confident, self-reliant, tolerant, generous, and future-
oriented". One indication of this is that an estimated five
million of them are being given at least one psychiatric
drug. This disturbing trend is growing rapidly.
The number of children ages 2-4 for whom stimulant
and anti-depressant drugs have been prescribed
increased 50 percent between 1991 and 1995.
In the following four years, prescriptions for anti-
depression drugs rose even more steeply, climbing 151
percent for children in the 7-12 age group, and 580
percent for children six and under.
For most people in the less 'developed' world it is
impossible to imagine 2-year old children so depressed
that they need prescription drugs. Equally hard to
fathom are many other symptoms of social breakdown
among America's children. Eating disorders, for
example. The number of pre-pubescent children with
eating disorders is on the rise, with girls as young as four
May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz
showing signs of anorexia.
Cosmetic surgery, another symptom of insecurity and
poor self-image, is also on the increase, with the
number of teen-age girls having their breasts
augmented quadrupling, and liposuction procedures
tripling, in just the past five years.
What about violence, which is a more common
symptom of breakdown for boys? Consider the fact that
there have been at least 25 school shootings in the US
since 1996, claiming the lives of 35 students. The
youngest killer? A six-year old boy.
What has made America's children so insecure and
troubled? A number of causes are surely involved, all of
which can be traced back to the global economy. As
corporations scour the world for bigger subsidies and
lower costs, jobs move with them, and families as well:
the typical American moves eleven times during their
life, constantly severing connections between relatives,
neighbours and friends.
Within almost every family, the economic pressures on
parents systematically rob them of time with even their
own children. Americans put in longer hours at work
than people in any other industrialized country, and the
trend is ever upward: Americans work the equivalent of
one week longer per year than they did a decade ago,
more than five weeks longer than in 1970.
As a consequence more and more young children are
relegated to the care of strangers in crowded day-care
centres. Older children are often left in the company of
violent video games or the corporate sponsors of their
favourite television shows. Time spent in nature -
fundamentally important to our psychological well
being - is increasingly rare.
Globalization and the spreading consumer culture thus
work to displace the flesh-and-blood role models -
parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends and
neighbours - that children once looked up to, replacing
them with media and advertising images: rakish movie
and rock stars, steroid-enhanced athletes and
airbrushed super-models. Children who strive to
emulate these manufactured 'perfect' idols are left
feeling insecure and inadequate.
7
In this sense, what is often seen as American 'culture' is
not a product of the American people. It is, in fact, an
artificial consumer culture being foisted on people
through advertising and the media.
This consumer culture is fundamentally different from
all those cultures which for millennia were shaped by
climate and topography - by a dialogue between
humans and the natural world.
This is a new phenomenon, something that has never
happened before: a culture determined by technological
and economic forces, rather than human and ecological
needs. It is not surprising that American children, many
of whom seem to 'have everything', are so unhappy: like
their parents, their teachers at school and even their
television heroes, they have been put on a treadmill that
is ever more stressful and competitive, ever more
meaningless and lonely.
America's children are among the first victims of a
culture shaped by commercial interests and media
moguls, and an increasing number of Americans are
waking up to this fact.
There is a growing trend towards turning the television
off, towards consciously seeking nature and community
instead. These are incredibly important and hopeful
signs.
Nevertheless, as the globalization juggernaut steam-
rolls along the number of victims worldwide is growing
exponentially. Today millions of children from
Mongolia to Patagonia are targets of a fanatical and
fundamentalist campaign to bring them into the
consumer culture. The cost is massive in terms of self-
rejection, psychological breakdown and violence.
These children are just as vulnerable as their American
counterparts to the sales pitches of corporate
advertisers, who tell them that this brand of make-up
will inch them closer to perfection, or that wearing that
brand of sneakers will make them more like their sports
hero.
Sales of dangerous bleach for skin and hair, and contact
lenses advertised as 'the colour of eyes you wish you
were born with', are skyrocketing in the South.
This psychological impoverishment is accompanied by
a massive rise in material poverty. Even in America a
decade-long economic 'boom' could not lift an
estimated 35 million people above the poverty line.
And what about the millions drawn into rapidly
growing Third World slums every year, with little hope
of escape?
8 Kisan Ki Awaaz
What about the factory workers in sweatshops and
maquiladoras, and the small farmers in their dying rural
communities?
What about the indigenous peoples being driven to
extinction, and those whose ways of life are so
threatened by the forces of globalization that they turn
to fundamentalism, even terrorism?
The central hope of the American Dream - that our
children will have a better life than we do - seems to
have vanished. Many people, in fact, no longer believe
that our children really have any future at all.
Nonetheless policymakers insist that globalization is
bringing a better world for everyone. How can there be
such a gap between the cheerleading rhetoric and the
lives of real people? Part of the disconnect results from
the way globalization's promoters measure 'progress'.
It is all too easy to compare America's consumer
cornucopia today with what was available 50 or 150
years ago. More often, the baseline from which
comparisons are made is rooted in the Dickensian
period of the early industrial revolution, when
exploitation and deprivation, pollution and squalor
were rampant. From this starting point, our child-labour
laws and 40-hour workweek look like real progress.
Similarly, the baseline in the Third World is the
immediate post-colonial period, with its uprooted
cultures, poverty, over-population and political
instability. Based on the misery of these starting points,
political leaders can argue that our technologies and our
economic system have brought a far better world into
being, and that globalization will bring benefits to the
"wretched, servile, fatalistic and intolerant human
beings" in the remaining 'undeveloped' parts of the
world.
In reality, however, globalization is a continuation of a
broad process that started with the age of conquest and
colonialism in the South and the Enclosures and the
Industrial Revolution in the North; from then on a
single culture and economic system has relentlessly
expanded, taking over other cultures, other peoples'
resources and labour. Far from delivering us from
poverty, the globalising industrial system continually
creates it.
Today, on the eve of the Johannesburg summit, it is vital
that we connect growing physical and emotional
poverty - whether inside or outside the US - to the whole
industrial system, to a history that included robbing
people from all over the world of their natural
May - 2010
resources, labour and self-respect. Our leaders simply
fail to connect the dots between 'progress' and poverty.
Erasing other cultures, replacing them with an artificial
culture created by corporations and the media can only
lead to an increase in social breakdown and poverty.
Even in the narrowest economic terms, globalisation
means continuing to rob, rather than enrich, the
majority. In 1960, the income of the richest fifth of the
global population was 30 times that of the poorest fifth;
by 1997 the gap more than doubled, with the richest
fifth receiving 74 times more than the poorest fifth. This
is globalisation at work.
By forcing everyone on the planet to rely on the same,
narrow range of resources, globalisation is creating
artificial scarcity, thereby adding to real poverty and
exacerbating violent conflict.
Contrary to the often-repeated claim that global trade is
making conflict less likely, a recent World Bank study
has found that countries whose economies are highly
specialised - precisely what the free traders prescribe -
are 20 times more likely to find themselves in civil war
than countries whose economies are diversified.With
those in the industrialised world using ten times their
share of the earth's resources, it is a criminal hoax to
promise that everyone in the 'undeveloped' world can
do the same.
The global spread of this fantasy has been profoundly
destructive to people's ability to survive in their own
cultures, in their own place on the earth. It has even been
destructive to its most privileged beneficiaries.
America's children are telling us we need a very
different dream - one shaped by culture and nature, not
by corporate greed.
Helena Norberg-Hodge is an analyst of the impact of
the global economy on cultures and agriculture
worldwide and a pioneer of the localisation movement.
She is the founder and director of the International
Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC).
He book Ancient Futures has been described as an
"inspirational classic" by the London Times and
together with a film of the same title, it has been
translated into 42 languages. She is also co-author of
Bringing the Food Economy Home and From the
Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture.In 1986,
she received the Right Livelihood Award, or the
"Alternative Nobel Prize" as recognition for her work in
Ladakh
Countercurrents.org

Contd. from page no.6....

He called for community response to conserve rainwater and requested all those
present in the Yagya to take a pledge that they will do their best for assuring conservation of the rainwater.

Shri Agarwal said that for those coming especially from the rural areas, there was an added responsibility of
motivating the villagers to join hands together in maintenance of the village ponds and conservation of
rainwater. Further, he drew the attention towards the recently advertised 'Scheme for Repair, Renovation and
Restoration of Water Bodies' by the
Government of India, which has a
provision of central assistance. He called
upon the Agri-Input Dealers to facilitate the
farmers in filling of applications and getting
the assistance from the Government for dug-
out ponds and rainwater conservation,
besides taking initiative for at least one
dug-out pond in his area with community
participation.

Shri Agarwal informed that they are

celebrating year 2010 as 'Water Conservation Year'. After this mega yagya, year-round plans have been drawn to
take this message throughout the country by organizing Seminars and Exhibitions in close cooperation of the
State Agricultural Universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK), State Departments of Agriculture, NGOs, Agri-
Input Dealers and Farmers
Rahul Sharma - Reporter, KISAN KI AWAAZ

May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz 9

Independent People's Tribunal on Land Acquisition,
Resource Grab and Operation Green Hunt
NEW DELHI - The Independent People's Tribunal
took place from 9th 11th April, 2010, at the
Constitution Club, New Delhi.
This was organized by a collective of civil society
groups, social movements, activists, academics and
concerned citizens in the country.
The people's jury, comprising of Hon'ble Justice P. B.
Sawant, Justice H. Suresh, Professor Yash Pal, Dr. V.
Mohini Giri, Dr. P. M. Bhargava, and Dr. K.S.
Subramanian heard testimonies from the affected
people, social activists and experts from Andhra
Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West
Bengal.
The jury heard the testimonies of a large number of
witnesses over three days from the States of
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa as
well as some expert witnesses on land acquisition,
mining and human rights violations of Operation
Green Hunt. The immediate observations of the Jury
are as follows:
Tribal communities represent a substantial and
important proportion of Indian population and
heritage.
Not even ten countries in the world have more people
than we have tribals in India. Not only are they crucial
components of the country's human biodiversity,
which is greater than in the rest of the world put
together, but they are also an important source of
social, political and economic wisdom that would be
currently relevant and can give India an edge.
In addition, they understand the language of Nature
better than anyone else, and have been the most
successful custodian of our environment, including
forests.
There is also a great deal to learn from them in areas as
diverse as art, culture, resource management, waste
management, medicine and metallurgy. They have
been also far more humane and committed to
universally accepted values than our urban society.
It is clear that the country has been witnessing gross
10 Kisan Ki Awaaz
violation of the rights of the poor, particularly tribal
rights, which have reached unprecedented levels
since the new economic policies of the 90's.
The 5th Schedule rights of the tribals, in particular the
Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act
and the Forest Rights Act have been grossly violated.
These violations have now gone to the extent where
fully tribal villages have been declared to be non-
tribal. The entire executive and judicial
administration appear to have been totally apathetic
to their plight.
The development model which has been adopted and
which is sharply embodied in the new economic
policies of liberalization, privatization and
globalization, have led in recent years to a huge drive
by the state to transfer resources, particularly land and
forests which are critical for the livelihood and the
survival of the tribal people, to corporations for
exploitation of mineral resources, SEZs and other
industries most of which have been enormously
destructive to the environment.
These industries have critically polluted water
bodies, land, trees, plants, and have had a devastating
impact on the health and livelihoods of the people.
The consultation with the Gram Sabhas required by
the PESA Act has been rendered a farce as has the
process of Environment Impact Assessment of these
industries.
This has resulted in leaving the tribals in a state of
acute malnutrition and hunger which has pushed them
to the very brink of survival.
It could well be the severest indictment of the State in
the history of democracy anywhere, on account of the
sheer number of people (tribals) affected and the
diabolic nature of the atrocities committed on them by
the State, especially the police, leave aside the
enormous and irreversible damage to the
environment .
It is also a glaring example of corruption financial,
intellectual and moral sponsored and/or abetted by
May - 2010
the State, that characterizes today's India, cutting
across all party lines.
Peaceful resistance movements of tribal communities
against their forced displacement and the corporate
grab of their resources is being sought to be violently
crushed by the use of police and security forces and
State and corporate funded and armed militias.
The state violence has been accentuated by Operation
Green Hunt in which a huge number of paramilitary
forces are being used mostly on the tribals. The
militarization of the State has reached a level where
schools are occupied by security forces.
Even peaceful activists opposing these violent actions
of the State against the tribals are being targeted by the
State and victimized.
This has led to a total alienation of the people from the
State as well as their loss of faith in the government
and the security forces.
The Government both at the Centre and in the States
must realize that it's above-mentioned actions,
combined with total apathy, could very well be sowing
the seeds of a violent revolution demanding justice
and rule of law that would engulf the entire country.
We should not forget the French, Russian and
American history, leave aside our own.
Recommendations:
Stop Operation Green Hunt and start a dialogue with
the local people.
Immediately stop all compulsary acquisition of
agricultural or forest land and the forced displacement
of the tribal people.
Declare the details of all MOUs, industrial and
infrastructural projects proposed in these areas and
freeze all MOUs and leases for non-agricultural use of
such land, which the Home Minister has proposed.
Rehabilitate and reinstate the tribals forcibly
displaced back to their land and forests.
Stop all environmentally destructive industries as well
as those on land acquired without the consent of the
Gram Sabhas in these areas.
Withdraw the paramilitary and police forces from
May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz
schools and health centres which must be effectuated
with adequate teachers and infrastructure.
Stop victimizing dissenters and those who question
the actions of the State.
Replace the model of development which is
exploitative, environmentally destructive, iniquitous
and not suitable for the country by a completely
different model which is participatory, gives
importance to agriculture and the rural sector, and
respects equity and the environment.
It must be ensured that all development, especially
use of land and natural resources, is with the consent
and participation of the Tribal communities as
guaranteed by the Constitution.
Credible Citizen's Commissions must be constituted
to monitor and ensure this.
Constitute an Empowered Citizen's Commission to
investigate and recommend action against persons
responsible for human rights violations of the tribal
communities.
This Commission must also be empowered to ensure
that tribals actually receive the benefit of whatever
government schemes exist for them.
www.toxicswatch.com
Find all
Agriculture Policies
Farmers Issues
Products News
Video & Magazine.
For More Information.
Www.kisankiawaaz.org
11
 Genetically Modified Soy Linked to Sterility, Infant Mortality in Hamsters
*Jeffrey Smith

New Study Confirms Fears About Mammal Sterility from GMOs

After feeding hamsters for two years over three generations, those on the GM diet, and especially
the group on the maximum GM soy diet, showed devastating results. By the third generation,
most GM soy-fed hamsters lost the ability to have babies. They also suffered slower growth, and
a high mortality rate among the pups. If this isn't shocking enough…..

April 20, 2010 "This study was just routine," said
Russian biologist Alexey V. Surov, in what could end
up as the understatement of this century. Surov and his
colleagues set out to discover if Monsanto's
genetically modified (GM) soy, grown on 91% of US
soybean fields, leads to problems in growth or
reproduction. What he discovered may uproot a
multi-billion dollar industry.
After feeding hamsters for two years over three
generations, those on the GM diet, and especially the
group on the maximum GM soy diet, showed
devastating results. By the third generation, most GM
soy-fed hamsters lost the ability to have babies. They
also suffered slower growth, and a high mortality rate
among the pups.
And if this isn't shocking enough, some in the third
generation even had hair growing inside their
mouthsa phenomenon rarely seen, but apparently
more prevalent among hamsters eating GM soy.
The study, jointly conducted by Surov's Institute of
Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of
Sciences and the National Association for Gene
Security, is expected to be published in three months
(July 2010)so the technical details will have to wait.
But Surov sketched out the basic set up for me in an
email.
He used Campbell hamsters, with a fast reproduction
rate, divided into 4 groups. All were fed a normal diet,
but one was without any soy, another had non-GM
soy, a third used GM soy, and a fourth contained
higher amounts of GM soy. They used 5 pairs of
hamsters per group, each of which produced 7-8
litters, totally 140 animals.
Surov told The Voice of Russia,
"Originally, everything went smoothly. However, we
noticed quite a serious effect when we selected new
pairs from their cubs and continued to feed them as
before. These pairs' growth rate was slower and
reached their sexual maturity slowly.”
He selected new pairs from each group, which
generated another 39 litters. There were 52 pups born
to the control group and 78 to the non-GM soy group.
In the GM soy group, however, only 40 pups were
born. And of these, 25% died. This was a fivefold
higher death rate than the 5% seen among the
controls. Of the hamsters that ate high GM soy
content, only a single female hamster gave birth. She
had 16 pups; about 20% died.
Surov said "The low numbers in F2 [third generation]
showed that many animals were sterile.”
The published paper will also include measurements
of organ size for the third generation animals,
including testes, spleen, uterus, etc. And if the team
can raise sufficient funds, they will also analyze
hormone levels in collected blood samples
.
Hair Growing in the Mouth
Earlier this year, Surov co-authored a paper in
Doklady Biological Sciences showing that in rare
instances, hair grows inside recessed pouches in the
mouths of hamsters.
"Some of these pouches contained single hairs;
others, thick bundles of colorless or pigmented hairs
reaching as high as the chewing surface of the teeth.
Sometimes, the tooth row was surrounded with a
regular brush of hair bundles on both sides. The hairs
grew vertically and had sharp ends, often covered
with lumps of a mucous.”
(The photos of these hair bundles are truly disgusting.
Trust me, or look for yourself.)

12 Kisan Ki Awaaz May - 2010

At the conclusion of the study, the authors surmise
that such an astounding defect may be due to the diet
of hamsters raised in the laboratory. They write, "This
pathology may be exacerbated by elements of the
food that are absent in natural food, such as
genetically modified (GM) ingredients (GM soybean
or maize meal) or contaminants (pesticides,
mycotoxins, heavy metals, etc.)." Indeed, the number
of hairy mouthed hamsters was much higher among
the third generation of GM soy fed animals than
anywhere Surov had seen before.
Preliminary, but Ominous
Surov warns against jumping to early conclusions. He
said, "It is quite possible that the GMO does not cause
these effects by itself." Surov wants to make the
analysis of the feed components a priority, to discover
just what is causing the effect and how.
In addition to the GMOs, it could be contaminants, he
said, or higher herbicide residues, such as Roundup.
There is in fact much higher levels of Roundup on
these beans; they're called "Roundup Ready."
Bacterial genes are forced into their DNA so that the
plants can tolerate Monsanto's Roundup herbicide.
Therefore, GM soy always carries the double threat of
higher herbicide content, couple with any side effects
of genetic engineering.
Years of Reproductive Disorders from GMO-Feed
Surov's hamsters are just the latest animals to suffer
from reproductive disorders after consuming GMOs.
In 2005, Irina Ermakova, also with the Russian
National Academy of Sciences, reported that more
than half the babies from mother rats fed GM soy died
within three weeks. This was also five times higher
than the 10% death rate of the non-GMO soy group.
The babies in the GM group were also smaller (see
photo) and could not reproduce.
In a telling coincidence, after Ermakova's feeding
trials, her laboratory started feeding all the rats in the
facility a commercial rat chow using GM soy. Within
two months, the infant mortality facility-wide
reached 55%.
When Ermakova fed male rats GM soy, their testicles
changed from the normal pink to dark blue! Italian
scientists similarly found changes in mice testes
(PDF), including damaged young sperm cells.
May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz
Furthermore, the DNA of embryos from parent mice
fed GM soy functioned differently.
An Austrian government study published in
November 2008 showed that the more GM corn was
fed to mice, the fewer the babies they had (PDF), and
the smaller the babies were.
Central Iowa Farmer Jerry Rosman also had trouble
with pigs and cows becoming sterile. Some of his pigs
even had false pregnancies or gave birth to bags of
water. After months of investigations and testing, he
finally traced the problem to GM corn feed. Every
time a newspaper, magazine, or TV show reported
Jerry's problems, he would receive calls from more
farmers complaining of livestock sterility on their
farm, linked to GM corn.
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine
accidentally discovered that rats raised on corncob
bedding "neither breed nor exhibit reproductive
behavior." Tests on the corn material revealed two
compounds that stopped the sexual cycle in females
"at concentrations approximately two-hundredfold
lower than classical phytoestrogens." One compound
also curtailed male sexual behavior and both
substances contributed to the growth of breast and
prostate cancer cell cultures. Researchers found that
the amount of the substances varied with GM corn
varieties. The crushed corncob used at Baylor was
likely shipped from central Iowa, near the farm of
Jerry Rosman and others complaining of sterile
livestock.
In Haryana, India, a team of investigating
veterinarians report that buffalo consuming GM
cottonseed suffer from infertility, as well as frequent
abortions, premature deliveries, and prolapsed
uteruses. Many adult and young buffalo have also
died mysteriously.
Denial, Attack and Canceled Follow-up
Scientists who discover adverse findings from GMOs
are regularly attacked, ridiculed, denied funding, and
even fired. When Ermakova reported the high infant
mortality among GM soy fed offspring, for example,
she appealed to the scientific community to repeat
and verify her preliminary results. She also sought
additional funds to analyze preserved organs. Instead,
she was attacked and vilified. Samples were stolen
from her lab, papers were burnt on her desk, and she
13
said that her boss, under pressure from his boss, told
her to stop doing any more GMO research. No one has
yet repeated Ermakova's simple, inexpensive studies.
In an attempt to offer her sympathy, one of her
colleagues suggested that maybe the GM soy will
solve the over population problem!
Surov reports that so far, he has not been under any
pressure.
Opting Out of the Massive GMO Feeding
Experiment
Without detailed tests, no one can pinpoint exactly
what is causing the reproductive travesties in Russian
hamsters and rats, Italian and Austrian mice, and
livestock in India and America. And we can only
speculate about the relationship between the
introduction of genetically modified foods in 1996,
GM crops cause liver and kidney damage
A report published in the International Journal of
Microbiology has verified once again that Monsanto's
genetically modified (GM) crops are causing severe
health problems. A legal challenge issued against
Monsanto forced the multi-national agriculture giant
to release raw data revealing that animals fed its
patented GM corn suffered liver and kidney damage
within just three months.
Adding to the mounting evidence that GM crops are
dangerous all around, this information provides a
damning indictment against Monsanto which
continually insists that its GM products are safe. Not
only are GM crops proving disastrous for the
environment, but study after study, including those
conducted by Monsanto itself, is showing that GM
foods are detrimental to health.
Monsanto's data indicated that the company had
conducted tests on three varieties of its GM corn, two
of which contain the dangerous Bt protein, and one
designed specifically to resist Monsanto's Roundup
herbicide. All three are widely grown in the United
States while only one is currently grown in Europe.
Dr. Gilles-Eric Seralini, a French researcher from the
University of Caen, was tasked with examining the
data and providing a review. While stopping short of
declaring GM crops to be toxic, he did emphasize that
chronic negative effects were apparent and that there
were "statistically significant" indications of kidney
14 Kisan Ki Awaaz
and the corresponding upsurge in low birth weight
babies, infertility, and other problems among the US
population. But many scientists, physicians, and
concerned citizens don't think that the public should
remain the lab animals for the biotech industry's
massive uncontrolled experiment.
Alexey Surov says, "We have no right to use GMOs
until we understand the possible adverse effects, not
only to ourselves but to future generations as well. We
definitely need fully detailed studies to clarify this.
Any type of contamination has to be tested before we
consume it, and GMO is just one of them.”
Sources - Http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-
smith/genetically-modified-
soy_b_544575.html?utm_source=newsletter&ut
m_medium=email&utm_campaign=readblog1
and liver damage.
The specific effects observed in test rats included a
buildup of hormones in the blood, indicating that their
liver and kidneys were not functioning properly. One
variety of the corn led to elevated blood sugar levels
and increased triglyceride levels in female rats given
it.
Dr. Seralini concluded that, because GM crops are
foreign substances that have never been a part of a
normal diet, there is no telling what the long-term
effects of consumption will be on people. In animals,
significant disruption of normal bodily function has
been observed even in the short term.
Genetically manipulated food crops are not fit for
human consumption and should not be classified as
food. No legitimate study has ever proven them to be
safe or nutritious. The burden of proof is on the
producers of such crops to verify their safety and, to
date, all data has revealed that they are unsafe.
Claims that GM foods will end world hunger are
baseless, propagated only by those that have a
financial interest in converting the world's food
supply to their own patented varieties in order to
control it.
Sources - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...
May - 2010
 Genetically modified crops are not the answer
*Dr. Hans Herren and Dr. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman
The Senate is considering a bill that would overhaul
the way Americans deliver foreign aid. With more
people going hungry than ever before, the bill's
attention to global hunger could not come at a better
time.
The Global Food Security Act would streamline the
aid process and focus on long-term agricultural
development. But something has gone awry inside the
bill. A closer look reveals that its otherwise
commendable focus may be seriously undermined by
a new clause lobbied for by one of America's largest
seed and chemical companies.
This bill includes a mandate that we spend foreign aid
dollars developing genetically modified (GM) crops.
No other kind of agricultural technology is
mentioned. Unsurprisingly, Monsanto has lobbied
more frequently on this bill than any other entity.
The trouble with a mandate for GM crops is this: it
won't work. A recent report by the Union of
Concerned Scientists demonstrates that GM crops
don't increase crop yields. USAID has already spent
millions of taxpayer dollars developing GM crops
over the past two decades, without a single success
story to show for it, and plenty of failures.
A recent, highly touted partnership between USAID
and Monsanto to develop a virus-resistant sweet
potato in Kenya failed to deliver anything useful for
farmers.
After 14 years and $6 million, local varieties vastly
outperformed their genetically modified cousins in
field trials. Another 10-year USAID project for GM
eggplant in India recently met with such outcry from
scientists and Indian farmers alike that the
government put a moratorium on its release.
Growing insect resistance to genetically modified
cotton and corn shows that the technology is already
failing farmers and will continue to fail over the long
term. Sadly, today's GM obsession shows every
indication of duplicating the first ill-fated “Green
Revolution” that trapped millions of farmers on a
pesticide treadmill while devastating the functioning
of the ecosystems on which we depend.
May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz
Fortunately, we have alternatives. Improved farming
practices, conventional breeding and agro-ecological
techniques deliver far better results, without the risks
and high input costs that accompany GM seeds.
A 2008 study by the United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development found that “organic
agriculture can be more conducive to food security in
Africa than most conventional production systems,
and … is more likely to be sustainable in the long
term.”
Even the chief agricultural scientist of Punjab a home
of the Green Revolution argues that Indian farmers
should farm organically.
Meanwhile, the World Bank and UN agencies have
completed the most comprehensive analysis of world
agriculture to date: the International Assessment of
Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for
Development (IAASTD).
This four-year study by more than 400 scientists and
development experts from 80 countries and approved
by 58 governments found that reliance on resource-
extractive industrial agriculture is risky and
unsustainable, particularly in the face of worsening
climate, energy and water crises.
It noted that expensive, quick fixes including GM
crops fail to address the complex challenges that
farmers face, and often exacerbate already bad
conditions. Instead, the IAASTD highlighted the
need to build more resilience into our food systems by
increasing investments in agro-ecological sciences,
small-scale biodiverse farming methods and farmer-
led participatory breeding programs.
The success of ecological agriculture rests not only in
its immediate outcomes of better and more reliable
performance, but also in its ability to address the
underlying cause of hunger: poverty.
Congress could learn from the thousands of Kenyan
farmers who have obtained bumper crops and higher
household income through the ecological pest
management system known as “push-pull.”
19
By planting a variety of grasses in and around their
cornfields, these farmers have suppressed insect pest
and weed populations, reduced input costs, doubled or
tripled their corn harvest, increased forage for
livestock, supplied their families and local markets,
paid off debts and set aside money to pay for school,
medicines and other needs. No amount of gene-
splicing (or lobbying or advertising) by Monsanto has
ever accomplished this much for an African family.
Ultimately, tackling global hunger and poverty
requires more than a focus on production
technologies. The bigger, more fundamental
challenge today is about restoring fairness and
democratic control over our food systems.
This requires strengthening local food economies,
increasing small-scale farmers' control of seed and
land, and importantly breaking up corporate
monopolies in agriculture and establishing fairer
regional and global trade arrangements.
Follow organic farming and proceed indigenous faster
Bhopal, April 11, Madhya Pradesh Finance minister
Raghavji exhorted the farmers to adopt organic farming
and to promote 'Swadeshi'.
He was addressing a national training workshop on
organic farming, organised by Bharatiya Swadeshi
Sangh at Hindi Bhavan.
The minister said that the State government would
cooperate in the implementation of organic farming
policy through Swadeshi Jaivik Sena.
Renowned Farmers Leader and Expert on International
Policies & Technologies Dr. Krishan Bir Chaudhary,
in his key note address attacked the government, and
said that the farmers cannot comprise on their rights on
seeds because the seeds is the basic need of the farmers
and we cannot surrender our food security of the country
to the MNCs.
He alleged that in the name of second green revolution
governments in nexus with multinational companies
are cheating farmers and public of the country.He
appealed to the State government to ban Genetically
Modified Seeds immediately.
He told in details on security of food items, danger of
GM Seeds, human health, environment, self-dependant.
20 Kisan Ki Awaaz
If Congress is serious about addressing world hunger,
they should take their lead from the most
comprehensive science and from farmers on the
ground not from Monsanto lobbyists.
Herren is co-chairman of the International
Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science
and Technology for Development (IAASTD) and
president of the Millennium Institute and
BioVision.
Ishii-Eiteman is a lead author of the UN-sponsored
IAASTD Global Report. She is senior scientist and
director of the Sustainable Food Systems Program
at Pesticide Action Network.
Http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/93907-
genetically-modified-crops-are-not-the-answer
He critised the SEZ policies & said that it's land
grabbing by the large corporates of the poor farmers.
Agriculture production commissioner M K Rai
emphasising on the inportance of the organic farming
said that it was our aim to prosper farmers through
organic farming and make farming, a profitable
business.
Former Agriculture Director Dr. GS Kaushal said the
now the time has come for regional seeds, fertilisers,
gobar gas plants, and organic pesticides and to give
training to youth of rural areas of the state with making
of gobar gas cylinder, Tiles, Colours, Hardboard, Soap,
Oil and other daily useable items by which rural youth
can make small scale industries in their villages and
make villages self dependant.
Dr. Shankar Patidar in his address has appealed to the
farmers to practise organic farming and save cows.
At the function Dr. Krishan Bir Chaudhary felicitated
to Hiralal Dunge, Dharmendra Goswami, Rubi Sarkar,
Inderjeet Singh Sengar and joint director Mehra.
Organisation chief Rajesh Sharma captain V P Singh,
Manju Sharma and other were also present on the
occasion.
May - 2010
 Stifling the Economy, One Argument at a Time
*ROBERT E. LIGHTHIZER
F RUSTRATED with years of delay and
stonewalling, 130 members of Congress urged the
Obama administration to punish China for
manipulating the value of its currency to the detriment
of American exports.
But this issue does not stand alone; it is part of the
larger, murkier world of international trade policy,
centered on the Doha round of World Trade
Organization negotiations.
These talks, which began in 2001, long ago became a
quagmire. It's time to admit the global economy has
passed them by and pull the plug on them.
The trade talks, which never had more than modest
support from American businesses, were intended not
just to lower barriers to trade, but particularly to
“ensure that developing countries, and especially the
least-developed among them, secure a share in the
growth of world trade commensurate with the needs
of their economic development.”
Given that Western countries had enjoyed significant
economic growth in the 1980s and 1990s, helping
poorer states seemed like a noble goal.
There was never much reason to believe that the Doha
round would really help United States workers and
businesses.
American farmers in particular dislike the negotiators'
focus on reducing or eliminating their government
subsidies given the limited gains they would see in
real foreign-market access.
Global trade officials claimed that Doha could be used
to further open developing markets like China and
India to American manufacturers, but as the National
Association of Manufacturers has pointed out for
years such countries have refused to put on the table
any significant market-opening offers.
Finally, efforts to use the Doha round to improve
export opportunities for American service providers
have also gone nowhere.
May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz
As trade ministers have chattered on for nearly a
decade, the world has changed. The notion that we
should adjust global trading rules to help the rest of
the world compete with the West has become
outdated.
Since 2001, the West has suffered its worst economic
crisis since the Great Depression. In the United States,
we have seen our financial services sector which
accounted for 40 percent of American corporate
profits in 2007 implode.
Since the start of these talks, we have run up a
cumulative trade deficit with China of more than $1.5
trillion, and have lost some four million
manufacturing jobs.
Meanwhile, the World Bank projects that developing
countries will enjoy 5.2 percent growth in 2010 and
5.8 percent growth in 2011 while “high income”
countries will experience growth rates of only 1.8
percent in 2010 and 2.3 percent in 2011.
Under these circumstances, why would we continue
with the same tired agenda for trade negotiations? It is
like trying to improve standard-definition TV in the
world of high-def.
Unfortunately, President Obama is reading from the
same nine-year-old talking points as the trade
bureaucrats. On March 11, in comments echoing part
of his State of the Union address, he re-committed his
administration to working “towards an ambitious and
balanced Doha agreement.”
That is a mistake. The president should push for a new
United States trade agenda suitable for a world in
which the Western countries are losing ground while
“developing” countries like China, Brazil and India
are surging.
Any serious multilateral trade talks should address
four main topics:
THE UNITED STATES-CHINA TRADE
BALANCE
Our trade deficit with China grew from $103 billion in
21
2002 (the first full year after China joined the W.T.O.)
to $268 billion in 2008 an increase of 160 percent in
only seven years.
Although the recession has forced American
consumers to reduce their purchases of Chinese
imports, our 2009 trade deficit with China was still
almost $227 billion.
This imbalance has become a symbol of American
decline and poisoned many Americans' view of free
trade.
By some estimates, China's aggressive exports and
reluctance on imports could lower global world
production by 1.4 percent and cost Americans 1.4
million jobs.
CURRENCY MANIPULATION
China has stockpiled some $2.4 trillion in foreign
currency reserves in its determination to keep the
yuan from rising as market forces would normally
require and maintain its trade advantage.
No wonder almost a third of the House demanded last
week that the Obama administration take some action.
Many experts believe that the artificially low interest
rates caused by Chinese currency manipulation
contributed directly to the real estate bubbles in the
West that exploded with such disastrous results.
UNFAIR TAX RULES
The United States relies primarily on income taxes to
pay for government services, while most of our
trading partners depend on value-added taxes on
purchases.
Under current W.T.O. rules, countries with value-
added taxes are allowed to give tax rebates to their
companies on exported goods, and to impose those
taxes on imports.
Companies in nations with income taxes, however,
are not allowed similar treatment. Thus an American
product shipped to France is effectively taxed twice,
while a French product can be sent here effectively
tax-free.
The consequences are serious: a 2004 analysis
concluded that this practice cost American exporters
22 Kisan Ki Awaaz
more than $100 billion per year.
REGULATORY DISPARITIES
Foreign companies often benefit from relatively weak
labor and environmental rules that enable them to
operate with significantly lower costs than their
United States competitors.
This leaves American manufacturers with three
options: lose market share, cut profit margins or move
abroad.
Indeed, one of the main concerns about proposed
climate change legislation is that such laws would
result in significant carbon “leakage,” as carbon-
emitting manufacturers flee to countries with lower
standards.
If we want an efficient global market, we should be
more serious about making sure companies in all
nations play by the same rules.
Ending the Doha round will not be easy. Many trade
bureaucrats, both here and abroad, will cling to the
mantra that doing so would hurt free trade.
But Americans would be receptive to an argument
focused on their concerns: in a 2008 Rasmussen poll,
73 percent of respondents said that a free-trade
agreement had had a negative effect on their families,
while only 14 percent said they had benefited from
such an agreement.
And while other countries would undoubtedly resist
changing a global trading system that puts Americans
at a severe disadvantage, we have enormous leverage,
in the form of the world's largest market. We should
use that leverage.
Finally, what do we have to lose? The Doha talks are
never going to significantly help Americans anyway.
One benefit of the recession and the pause in the Doha
talks is that President Obama has a rare opportunity to
re-focus our trade agenda. He should take it.
Robert E. Lighthizer, a lawyer, was a deputy trade
representative in the Reagan administration.
May - 2010
 Why Go Organic - Ten Top Reasons
Here are the ten top reasons to GO ORGANIC Ultimately we pay the far, far higher price either in
taxes and/or the horrid devastation that yields global
EFFECTS ON OUR TOPSOIL warming.

The soil of our earth is the foundation of the whole IMPACT ON THE QUALITY OF NUTRITION
human and environmental food chain and thus our
survival. The typical organic farm is teaming with life US agriculture uses more than 800 different toxic
from butterflies, to frogs, to bees, to you name it. pesticides. Over 3,000 chemicals overall are mixed
Conventional farms have polluted and depleted and into our foods directly, and nearly 10,000 are used in
thus “dead” soils. the production and storing of foods. Most of these
chemicals are harmful to our health.
They have been rendered sterile, using herbicides and
pesticides to kill other life forms. Also through the They may engender cancer, birth defects,
vast degradation of neurological
our soil, we are losing illnesses, dementia
cropland topsoil and other serious
seven times faster dysfunctions.
than it is being According to the
replaced naturally. E PA , 6 0 % o f
herbicides, 90% of
This ties in to the fungicides and 30%
philosophy of raw- of pesticides are
wisdom that the s t r o n g l y
conventional vision carcinogenic.
of nature is death-
centered mechanical The National
rather than life- Academy of Sciences
centered. estimate as far back as
1987 that pesticides
EFFECTS ON OUR could cause over a
WATERS million cancer cases
in the US alone over
Nearly 700 hundred toxic chemicals pollute our our lifetimes.
groundwater, many of them coming from agricutural
pesticides and herbicides. These chemicals cause On the positive side, organic produce has repeatedly
cancer and other debilitating illnesses and are not been proven to have higher levels of essential
removed by conventional means. Virtually all the nutrients, being grow in more living, mineral-rich,
drinking water in the US is polluted and 2/3rds of our composted soils.
own bodies are made up of water.
EFFECT ON FARM WORKERS
IMPACT ON ENERGY USE
Studies have shown a link between pesticide use and
Conventional farming methods use far more gas and Parkinson's disease, leukemia and cancers among
petroleum, both to create chemical fertilizers and to farm workers. An NCI study found that farm workers
till, cultivate and harvest crops. Organic farms are employed on conventional farms had 6x higher risk of
more labor-intensive. Government subsidized getting cancer.
conventional farms use 12% of the US total energy
consumption. A California study showed that farm workers in the

May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz 23

field had the highest occupational illnesses rates of all
California workers.
IMPACT ON SMALL FARMER SURVIVAL
Most organic farms are family-owned with less than a
100 acres. There has been a vast decimation of family
farms for the past few decades. At the turn of the 20th
century, farming was the primary livelihood in the
US.
Now it represents less than 1%. Organic farming
remains among the last refuges for surviving family
farms amid competition from large industrial farms
that try to “cut-throat monopolize” the market. Over a
million family farms have been lost over the last
couple decades.
REAL ECONOMIC COSTS ARE LESS
Amid the illusions of the marketplace created by
political forces, again many fail to see that organic
foods are actually cheaper overall. First conventional
farming is hugely subsidized and has hidden costs
that are borne by all taxpayers. If you add the health
and environmental costs, organic produce is really
and truly the least expensive.
We must remember that in the US medical costs have
risen from 5% to 16% of the GNP in the last 20 years.
Then there is hazardous waste removal costs and that
of toxic substance testing and regulation, soil erosion,
loss of fertility, wildlife decimation, and so on and so
forth ad infinitum. You get the picture.
PROMOTES BIODIVERSITY
Organic farms tend to preserve heirloom varieties
while large conventional farms do not and engage in
sterile, mechanistic monocropping. The latter
requires increasingly more lethal pesticide use as pest
become resistant over time and crops become subject
to wholesale blights. It was monocropping, followed
by a blight, that caused the famous Irish potato
famine.
PROTECTS OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE
Children ingest up to 4X the level of toxic residues
compared to that of their parents. Tests have shown
that exposure in early life, as early as in the womb ,
reveals residues in the placenta fluids.
24 Kisan Ki Awaaz
This often leads to much more cancer latter in life. The
damage can be passed on genetically to affect all
subsequent generations in a harmful way. This is why
we need to detox or help our bodies get rid of lifetime
toxic loads.
If all-organic food buying seems expensive at first,
consider skipping a meal to help your body detox. Or
fast for a day. Or shop at a direct farmers market, plant
your own organic home garden, work a few hours for
your local food coop and/or farm in exchange, and so
on. Be creative. Where there is a will there is always a
way!
MOVES AWAY FROM AN UNWISE VISION OF
NATURE
All living forms have awareness because life's
foundation resides in a presence of consciousness.
From tiny nano-bacteria to huge dinasours, living
organisms have awareness. This awareness forms, in
my experience, the universal relationship
ofconnection in all of nature, and ultimately the
foundation of oneness that interconnects all living
creatures.
The mechanical worldview of the 17th century
disrupts and destroys this weave. This is because its
view is based on universallyseparative symbols (math
symbols used to create the mechanical vision).
The mechanical view is thus based on opposite
principles to those of life in nature. This is the root
reason why when the mechanical vision is deeply (not
surface) applied, this unravels the connective weave
of ecospheres.
Actually the deeper applications threaten the
sustainability of life on earth. This is further why toxic
pesticides and herbicides are being banned in several
nations. Otherwise we follow a death-delivering
approach to farming with carcinogenic impacts on
our body and vast disruptions of surrounding nature.
SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR GO
ORGANIC
For these ten reasons and more, let us very wisely
GO ORGANIC TO THRIVE.
Source- www.healingtalks.com
May - 2010
 First day of IRRI's board meeting
Asian farmers shout 50 years is enough, protest at Los Baños
April 12, 2010 - About a thousand Asian and Filipino
farmers, agriculturists, scientists, students and advocates
protested at the gates of the International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, Laguna to call for its
permanent closure coinciding with its 50th year of
existence.
The protest is in line with culmination of the Year of Rice
Action (YORA) 2009 2010 international campaign,
composed of countries such as Philippines, Malaysia,
India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nepal, Laos PDR, Cambodia,
Thailand, Bangladesh and Pakistan vowed anew to protect
bio-diversed traditional and indigenous varieties of rice
against the genetically-engineered promoted by the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and agro-
chemical TNCs such as Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, Dow
AgroSciences and BASF.
YORA is campaigned by Kilusang Magbubukid ng
Pilipinas (KMP, Peasant Movement of the Philippines),
Pesticide Action Network Asia-Pacific (PAN-AP),
Resistance and Solidarity against Agro-chem TNCs
(RESIST) and MASIPAG (Farmer-Scientist Partnership
for Development) of the Philippines, Asian Peasant
Coalition (APC), Alliansi Gerakan Reforma Agraria
(AGRA) in Indonesia, All Nepal Peasants Federation
(ANPFa), Tamil Nadu Women's Forum in India, Vikalpani
in Sri Lanka, and more than ten organizations in Asia.
The protest action was also joined by hundreds of farmers
from KASAMA-TK (KMP Southern Tagalog) and from
MASIPAG.
“We would like to call the attention of IRRI's Board of
Trustees (BOT), particularly Dr. Robert S. Zeigler, IRRI's
Director-General from the United States and Dept. of
Agriculture Sec. Bernie Fondevilla and convey our
message that its about time for IRRI to evaluate its
existence. IRRI's BOT should listen to the farmers that its
research did not benefit rice consumers and farmers
worldwide.
In fact, it will celebrate its 50th anniversary in the midst of
a global food crisis where at least 2.9 million people (and
counting) have already died of hunger as of today.,” said
Danilo Ramos, KMP Secretary-General and also the
Secretary-General of the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC).
The Board of Trustees of IRRI is composed of Zeigler, P.
Stephen Baenziger of the United States, Ralph Anthony
Fischer of Australia, Mutsuo Iwamoto of Japan, Joyce
May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz
Kikafunda of Uganda, Seong-Hee Lee of Korea, Jillian
Lenné of United Kingdom, Mangala Rai and Usha
Barwale Zehr of India, Emerlinda Roman, president of
University of the Philippines system, Achmad Suryana of
Indonesia, Mohammed Syeduzzaman of Banglades,
Elizabeth Woods of Australia and Zhai Huqu of China.
“IRRI had enough existence and opportunities of
exploiting farmers globally. It should be abolished
immediately if we want to save bio-diversity of rice
varieties and preserve the lives and health of farmers who
have been exposed to deadly agro-chemicals it promotes,
alongwith giant agro-chem TNCs,” he said.
“Entrusted with the world's rice germplasm, IRRI is
currently revising its Intellectual Property Right (IPR)
policy to enable some give and take with its new clientele
the corporates.
Two questions arise immediately: how are these changes
going to sit with IRRI's public mandate? And what impact
would this have on small farmers?,” said Shalini Bhutani
of Genetic Resources Action International (GRAIN).
“Its rice collection and the material it develops from it is
IRRI's biggest asset. At the heart of the redesign of its IPR
policy is the question of how IRRI can raise financial
resources from these materials? The business reality is
that farmers' material is industry's raw material, and
farmers themselves is the seed industry's target market.
So it makes sense for IRRI, in need of funding, and the
private sector, wanting seeds to commercialise, and eager
to take a greater piece of the potentially enormous rice
seed market, to turn the situation around for their own
benefit,” added Bhutani.
“All IRRI invented were the chain and shackles put to
farmers, forcing them to use expensive and fatal agro-
chemicals so that agro-chem TNCs could rake up super-
profits as people starve,” added Marbella.
“IRRI should be held liable for the significant extinction
of traditional rice varities across the world. While
environmentalist are staking their lives to protect the
environment and bio-diversity, IRRI, with all its multi-
billion dollar funds, power and influence are consciously
wiping-out natural genus of rice native to different
countries.
This is a ferocious crime against mother earth and against
25
the future of mankind,” said Erpan Faryadi, Vice-chair for
Internal Affairs of APC and AGRA secretary general from
Indonesia.
“Pesticide poisonings (estimated at 25 million
occurrences involving agricultural workers per year),
environmental and health calamities, soil degradation and
major pest outbreaks, such as brown plant hopper
infestations, continue to haunt farming communities
across Asia because of the increasing use of fertilizers and
pesticides that IRRI's modern rice varieties require,”
remarked Clare Westwood of PAN AP.
“Chemical farming promoted by IRRI and TNCs are
proven to be destructive and very unproductive. That's
why it is important that farmers have freedom over their
seeds, technology, freedom from sickness, poverty, and
debt. And these rights should be observed and protected.
Masipag has by far promoted a farmer-led, sustainable
agriculture that fits the capacity of small farmers in the
country and has started the rice breeding program in 1987”
said Chito Medina , MASIPAG National Coordinator.
Crystal Phosphates & ICAR join hands to increase Rice Productivity
Initiates Public Private Partnership model to adopt 20,000-village
New Delhi 25th April : Crystal Phosphates limited-
and India Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR)
has entered into a public Private partnership model
for one common objective to increase the rice
production in India..
Under this PPP model Crystal and ICAR will jointly
work on one common mission to increase the
productivity of rice.
Crystal Phosphate will act like a bridge and with its
wide spread deep penetrative network it will ensure
the farmer will get all the latest informations/
recommendations from ICAR on know-how, Hybrid
seeds, new variety of seeds, new methodology etc to
be adopted for increasing the productivity.
Crystal will pass on the entire information right from
sowing to harvesting in a complete package to the
farmer.
Under this PPP model Crystal Phosphates to adopt
26 Kisan Ki Awaaz
The group vowed to protest further against IRRI
extending YORA to even a bigger scale, being Decade of
Rice Action (DORA). This is being planned by various
countries pushing the YORA campaign, member-
countries led by PAN AP and organizations of Asian
Peasant Coalition and International League of People's
Struggle (ILPS).
“IRRI thought that there would be an opposing voice to
what they are pushing. We proved them wrong as we are
here at their gates, these would be followed by many more
protest actions by many countries worldwide,” said
Ramos.
The group said that the a world without IRRI is a world
free of monopoly over rice varieties and deaths and
diseases caused by agro-chemicals they promote.
Foreign and local delegates continued to shout “50 years
of IRRI is enough! IRRI should close down now!”
roda_g04@yahoo.com
over 20000 villages across India in the key s states of
Andhra Pradesh, UP, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar,
Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Orissa and Karnataka In
the selected villages, which will be developed as role
model villages, Crystal's expert team with the help of
local farmers will do the agriculture by adopting new
means, inputs, methods and techniques as prescribed
by ICAR and help farmers to adopt the same in their
own fields.
This step of crystal not only helps farmers to have
better yield but also to reduce inputs cost.
Specialized team will visit various key paddy belts in
the above states and advise the farmers on various
measures need to taken for maximizing the yield.
Crystal will depute a team of over 1000 field staff on
village level who along with the experts will among
the farmers, provide them the information about the
new seeds, available in the market, latest know how,
using appropriate inputs and fertilizers.
May - 2010
 The Benefits of Wheatgrass
*Dr. Ann Wigmore
WHEATGRASS… Increases red blood cell count,
lowers blood pressure… It cleanses the blood, organs
and gastrointestinal tract of debris.
It stimulates metabolism and bodily enzyme systems in
enriching the blood by increasing red blood cell count,
and in dilating the blood pathways throughout the body,
reducing blood pressure.
Stimulates the thyroid, correcting obesity, indigestion,
etc. The thyroid gland is also stimulated and normalized
by the use of wheatgrass juice an important step toward
the correction of obesity, indigestion and a host of other
complaints.
Restores alkalinity to the blood… Wheatgrass has an
alkalizing effect on the blood. Its abundance of alkaline
minerals helps reduce over-acidity in the blood.
It can be used to relieve many internal pains. It has been
used successfully to treat peptic ulcers, ulcerative
colitis, constipation, diarrhea, and other complaints of
the gastrointestinal tract.
How to drink it… Dr. Ann Wigmore suggests drinking
wheatgrass juice in small amounts throughout the
course of the day, always on an empty or nearly empty
stomach. In general, two to four ounces every day or two
is sufficient. Slowly sipping small quantities of the juice
gives your body an opportunity to get used to its taste
and effect.
Taking one or two-ounce drinks straight or mixed with
other juices (fruit & vegetable) and sipping slowly will
help prevent nausea or stomach upset. On a healing
regime, Dr. Ann suggests you drink one or two oz., up to
3 or 4 times a day. And to take one day of rest a week.
Powerful detoxifier and liver and blood protector…
The enzymes and amino acids found in wheatgrass can
protect us from carcinogens like no other food or
medicine can. It strengthens our cells, detoxifies the
liver, bloodstream, and chemically neutralizes
environmental pollutants.
Fights tumors and neutralizes toxins…. Recent
studies show that wheatgrass juice has a powerful ability
to fight tumors without the usual toxicity of drugs that
also inhibit cell-destroying agents.
May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz
The many active compounds found in grass juice can
cleanse the blood and neutralize and digest toxins in our
cells. Whether you have a cut finger you want to heal, or
you desire to lose five pounds… enzymes must do the
actual work.
The life and abilities of the enzymes found naturally in
our bodies can be extended if we help them from the
outside by adding exogenous enzymes, like the ones
found in wheatgrass juice.
Remarkable similarity to our own blood… The 2nd
important nutritional aspect of chlorophyll is its
remarkable similarity to hemoglobin, the compound
that carries oxygen in the blood.
Dr. Hagiwara, a Japanese science and health educator, is
a leading advocate for the use of grass as food and
medicine. He reasons that since chlorophyll is soluble in
fat particles, and since fat particles are absorbed directly
into the blood via the lymphatic system, that chlorophyll
can also be absorbed in this way.
In other words, when the “blood” of plants is absorbed
in humans it is transformed into human blood, which
transports nutrients to every cell of the body.
Wheatgrass implants reverse damage from inside
the lower bowel… In the case of illness, they stimulate
a rapid cleansing of the lower bowel and draw out
accumulations of debris. Hold for 20 minutes.
Externally eliminates itching almost immediately…
Wheatgrass juice externally applied to the skin can help
eliminate itching almost immediately.
It will soothe sunburned skin and also acts as a
disinfectant. Rubbed into the scalp before a shampoo, it
will help mend damaged hair and alleviate itchy, scaly
scalp conditions.
Wheatgrass juice is soothing and healing for cuts, burns,
scrapes, rashes, poison ivy, athlete's foot, insect bites,
boils, sores , open ulcers, tumors & so on.
As a sleep aid… Merely place a tray of living
wheatgrass near the head of your bed. It will enhance the
oxygen in the air and generate healthful negative ions to
help you sleep more soundly.
27
Use as a poultice and replace every two to four hours.
Add some to your bath water and settle in for a nice, long
soak. Gargle with wheatgrass to sweeten the breath and
firm up and tighten gums.
Don't cook it… We can only get the benefits of the
many enzymes found in grass by eating it uncooked.
Cooking destroys 100 percent of the enzymes in food.
Neutralizes toxins… Wheatgrass neutralizes toxic
substances like cadmium, nicotine, strontium, mercury
and polyvinyl chloride.
The benefits of a liquid oxygen transfusion
Wheatgrass juice contains liquid oxygen. Oxygen is
vital to many body processes: it stimulates digestion (the
oxidation of food), clearer thinking (the brain utilizes 25
percent of the bodily oxygen supply), and protective
oxygenation of the blood (a defense against anaerobic
bacteria). Cancer cells cannot exist in the presence of
oxygen.
Turns gray hair to its natural color again, raises
energy levels… Daily consumption of wheatgrass and
sprouts can turn gray hair to its natural color again, and
give you a limitless energy level.
Beauty treatment that slows down the aging
process… Wheatgrass will cleanse your blood and help
rejuvenate aging cells, slowing the aging process down,
way down, making you feel more alive now. It will help
tighten loose and sagging skin.
Lessens effect of radiation… One enzyme found in
wheatgrass, SOD, lessens the effects of radiation and
acts as an anti-inflammatory compound that may
prevent cellular damage following heart attacks or
exposure to irritants.
Restores fertility… Wheatgrass restores fertility and
promotes youthfulness. Just soaking in it can double
your red blood cell count. Dr. Bernard Jensen found that
none of the blood builders are superior to green juices
and wheatgrass.
In his book Chlorophyll Magic, from Living Plant Life,
he mentions several cases where he was able to double
the red blood cell count in a matter of days merely by
having patients soak in a chlorophyll-water bath. Blood
building results occur even more rapidly when patients
drink green juices and wheatgrass regularly.
Ann Wigmore on her own experience with wheatgrass:
“At fifty years of age my hair was gray, I had a terrible
case of colitis and other colon problems, I suffered from
28 Kisan Ki Awaaz
low energy and had no clear direction in life. Out of
desperation I turned to nature for relief… In wheatgrass,
raw foods and exercise, I found what I feel is as close to
the fountain of youth as we are going to get.
Twenty-five years after my discovery, my hair was
turned fully natural brown again. My weight has been a
stable 119 and my energy level is limitless”
What's So Great About Wheat Grass Juice?*
1. Wheatgrass juice is 70% chlorophyll.
2. Chlorophyll is the first product of light and contains
more light energy than any other element.
3. Wheatgrass juice is a crude chlorophyll and can be
taken orally and as a colon implant without toxic side
effects.
4. Chlorophyll is the basis of all plant life.
5. Wheatgrass is high in oxygen like all green plants that
contain chlorophyll. The brain and all body tissues
function at an optimal level in a highly-oxygenated
environment.
6. Chlorophyll is anti-bacterial and can be used inside
and outside the body as a healer.
7. Dr. Bernard Jensen says that it only takes minutes to
digest wheatgrass juice and uses up very little body
energy.
8. Science has proven that chlorophyll arrests growth
and development of unfriendly bacteria.
9. Chlorophyll (wheatgrass) rebuilds the blood stream.
Studies of various animals have shown chlorophyll to be
free of any toxic reaction. The red cell count was
returned to normal with 4 to 5 days of the administration
of chlorophyll, even in those animals which were known
to be extremely anemic or low in red cell count.
10. Farmers in the Midwest who have sterile cows and
bulls put them on wheatgrass to restore fertility. (The
high magnesium content in chlorophyll builds enzymes
that restore the sex hormones.)
11. Chlorophyll can be extracted from many plants, but
wheatgrass is superior because it has been found to have
over 100 elements needed by man. If grown in organic
soil, it ab sorbs 92 of the known 102 minerals from the
soil.
May - 2010
12. Wheatgrass has what is called the grass juice factor,
which has been shown to keep herbivorous animals alive
indefinitely.
13. Dr. Ann Wigmore has been helping people get well
from chronic disorders for 30 years using wheatgrass.
14. Liquid chlorophyll gets into the tissues, refines
them, and makes them over.
15. Wheatgrass juice is a superior detoxification agent
compared to carrot juice and other fruits and vegetables.
Dr. Earp Thomas, associate of Ann Wigmore, says that
15 pounds of wheatgrass is the equivalent of 350 pounds
of carrots, lettuce, celery and so on.
16. Liquid chlorophyll washes drug deposits from the
body.
17. Chlorophyll neutralizes toxins in the body.
18. Chlorophyll helps purify the liver.
19. Chlorophyll improves blood sugar problems.
20. Wheatgrass juice cures acne and even removes scars
after it has been ingested for seven to eight months. The
diet must be improved at the same time.
21. In The American Journal of Surgery (1940),
Benjamin Cruskin, M.D., recommended chlorophyll to
clear up foul-smelling odors, neutralize strep infections,
heal wounds, hasten skin grafting, cure chronic sinusitis,
over come chronic inner-ear inflammation and
infections, reduce varicose veins and heal leg ulcers,
eliminate impetigo and other scabby eruptions, heal
rectal sores, successfully treat inflammation of the
uterine cervix, get rid of parasitic vaginal infections,
reduce typhoid fever, and cure advanced pyorrhea in
many cases.
22. Wheatgrass juice acts as a detergent in the body and
is used as a body deodorant.
23. A small amount of wheatgrass juice in the human diet
prevents tooth decay.
24. Wheatgrass juice held in the mouth for 5 minutes
will eliminate toothaches and poisons from gums.
25. Gargle with wheatgrass juice for a sore throat.
26. Pyorrhea of the mouth: lay pulp of wheatgrass
soaked in juice on diseased area in mouth or chew
wheatgrass. Spit out out pulp.
May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz
27. Drink wheatgrass juice for skin problems such as
eczema or psoriasis.
28. Wheatgrass juice keeps the hair from graying.
29. By taking wheatgrass juice, one may feel a
difference in strength, endurance, health, and
spirituality, and experience a sense of well-being.
30. Wheatgrass juice improves the digestion.
31. It is great for blood disorders of all kinds.
32. Wheatgrass juice is high in enzymes.
33. Wheatgrass juice is an excellent skin cleanser and
can be absorbed through the skin for nutrition. Pour
green juice over your body in a tub of warm water and
soak for 15 to 20 minutes. Rinse off with cool water.
34. Wheatgrass implants (enemas) are great for healing
and detoxifying the colon walls. The implants also heal
and cleanse the internal organs. After an enema, wait 20
minutes, then implant 4-ounces of wheatgrass juice.
Retain for 20 minutes.
35. Wheatgrass juice is great for constipation and
keeping the bowels open. It is high in magnesium.
36. Dr. Birscher, a research scientist, called chlorophyll
“concentrated sun power.” He said, “Chlorophyll
increases the function of the heart, affects the vascular
system, the intestines, the uterus and the lungs.”
37. According to Dr. Birscher, nature uses chlorophyll
(wheatgrass) as a body cleanser, rebuilder and
neutralizer of toxins.
38. Wheatgrass juice can dissolve the scars that are
formed in the lungs from breathing acid gasses. The
effect of carbon monoxide is minimized since
chlorophyll increases hemoglobin production.
39. Wheatgrass juice reduces high blood pressure as it
enhances the capillaries.
40. Wheatgrass juice can remove heavy metals from the
body.
Source:- Amazon.com .
29
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30 Kisan Ki Awaaz
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May - 2010
 US Farmers Oppose 'Big Ag' in Anti-Trust Hearing
*Dr. Eva Novotny
Will farmers get justice at last from years of victimisation
from big agribusiness peddling genetically engineered crops?
After years of suffering what amounts to “corporate feudalism” at the hands of agbiotech giants like
Monsanto, farmers are now fighting back as the US government launches an unprecedented anti-
trust enquiry. A major grievance is that the required seed licence forces farmers to relinquish their
right to plant, harvest and sell their own seeds.

Government launches anti-trust hearing as
monopoly tightens grip on farmers
The US government is concerned about the lack of
competition against large corporations. So, for the
first time in history, the US Department of Agriculture
(USDA) and the Department of Justice have joined
forces to organise a series of workshops from March
to December 2010, to be held in different parts of the
country, that aims to “explore competition issues
affecting the agricultural sector in the 21st century
and the appropriate role for antitrust and regulatory
enforcement in that industry.”
The first all-day hearing, held in Ankeny, Iowa, 12
March, was attended by about 500 people, including
farmers from several states, ranchers, company
representatives, local people and, notably,
representatives from Monsanto, the company with
near monopoly on seeds of maize and soybean. In the
US, these seeds are mostly genetically engineered
(GE).
Monsanto's dominance in the seed industry
illustrates the breakneck speed of corporate
concentration in the sector. Monsanto now controls 60
percent of the corn seed market, 62 percent of the
soybean market, 95 percent of the transgenic cotton
seed market and is rapidly consolidating control of the
vegetable, sugar beet and wheat markets. Monsanto's
GE soybean and corn cover 92 percent and 85 percent
respectively of total US acreage for those two crops.
Anatomy of seed monopoly
At the hearing, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.
conceded that “reckless deregulation has restricted
competition in agriculture.” Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack, whose record of promoting GE crops
and corporate control does not augur well for the
outcome of the workshops, nevertheless expressed
concern over the present situation. “This is not just
about farmers and ranchers. It's really about the
survival of rural America.” He said, “We've seen a
significant decline in the number of farmers and
ranchers and that translates into a significant decline
in the number of people living in rural America.”
Commenting on the joint involvement of the two
governmental departments, Mr. Holder told reporters:
“You will see an historic era of enforcement that will
almost inevitably grow from the partnership that we
have established.”
Farmers squeezed between low farm prices and
rising seed prices
Over the years, as large multinational corporations
began selling GE seeds and buying up seed
companies, life has become increasingly more
difficult for farmers. This was starkly portrayed in the
documentary Food inc, especially for those who hold
out against growing GE crops
.
A handful of large corporations, especially Monsanto,
DuPont/Pioneer and Syngenta, dominate and control
the seed market. Farmers who produce milk and raise
livestock are also in distress on account of their
dependence on grains for feed. Farmers are already
squeezed on low prices they receive from
supermarkets. In addition, they have to cope with
rising seed prices, despite the recession.
In the past year, prices for maize seeds have risen 32
percent; and for soybean seeds, 24 percent. Since
2001, prices have increased 135 percent and 108
percent respectively, while the Consumer Price Index
rose by only 20 percent.
The price of Monsanto's herbicide Roundup, used
with most GE crops, doubled in 2007-2008. Further
price increases for GE crops are on the way, as

May - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz 31

varieties with multiply-stacked genes are introduced.
Saving seeds from one year to the next is prohibited
under the licence agreement.
And woe to any farmer who finds GE plants growing
on his property if he does not have a current licence for
them: he can be sued for heavy fines by the seed
company, even if the plants came from stray seeds that
fell to the ground after the previous harvest, or if GE
pollen blew in on the wind to fertilise the errant plants.
Some farmers had spent years developing their own
unique strain of seeds only to have the harvest
contaminated with GE plants and confiscated by the
GE company. If a farmer prefers to buy non-GE
seeds, he may find it very difficult to obtain them, as
Food inc. documents; the dominance of the large
corporations over the seed market makes them
unavailable in many areas. Farmers are in a mood to
fight back.
Farmers fight back
At a rally held the preceding evening, farmers voiced
their grievances and opposition to the excessive
control that 'Big Ag' has gained. “The crops that we
grow are the basis of our civilization from when it
started; so if anything belongs in the public domain, if
anything belongs to the people of the world, it's the
crops we grow for food,” said one farmer to general
applause.
“In 2000 Monsanto Corporation tried to patent wheat;
and after a five-year-long battle, we stopped them.”
He pointed out that Monsanto claims to own corn,
soybean, canola [oilseed rape] and cotton, yet “these
crops go back as far as wheat.
They are the basis of civilization. How can they claim
to own them?” Monsanto did this from a legal
standpoint through a patent office, he continued.
“That's not right. We've got to turn that back.”
A dairy farmer from Wisconsin said: “Monsanto does
not have the right to dictate the value of my life, my
work, and the food I produce.”
One farmer came all the way from Arkansas to warn
the Iowans against 'Big Ag', only to find that the
problem is already universal. Another from a family
of farmers extending back to his great-great-
grandfather declared: “the corporation has no
32 Kisan Ki Awaaz
conscience and is singularly driven for profit.”
Paraphrasing President Abraham Lincoln's famous
Gettysburg Address, he added that the government
agencies have a responsibility to protect democracy
and prevent “government of the corporation, by the
corporation, and for the corporation.”
Also present at the rally was the Senior Scientist of
Pesticide Action Network, Dr Marcia Ishii-Eiteman.
She had been a member of the Steering Committee for
the International Assessment of Agricultural
Knowledge, Science and Technology for
Development (IAASTD), a major and
comprehensive report released in April 2008 by about
400 scientists and other experts from some 60
countries.
The report arose from concern that modern advances
in agricultural science and technology, with their
increased productivity, had nevertheless led to
unintended and undesirable social and environmental
effects.
It addresses the policies needed to ensure security of
food and livelihoods while maintaining
environmental integrity. One of the most important
findings is that GE crops are not needed to feed the
world, contrary to the claims of the GE industry.
GE crops are described in the report as 'highly
contentious' and as having variable yield, which may
be lower than that of conventional varieties. A
remarkable feature of the report is the importance
attached to traditional knowledge.
Contrary to the modern Western trend for huge farms
practising intensive chemical monoculture, small-
scale farming according to ecological principles has a
major role to play.
In other words, local farmers have experience and
wisdom needed even in this modern, technologically-
based world. Above all, corporations driven by self-
profit must not be allowed to control farmers and
agriculture. The US government must surely be
getting the message.
http://www.isis.org.uk/US_farmers_oppose_big_
ag.php
May - 2010