safe food now!

The Indian food supply is on the brink. The first GM-crop, Bt Brinjal has been approved by the GEAC for release. The approval by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee was expected on the basis of test results submitted by seed company Mahyco which is a subsidiary of Monsanto who developed the crop.

After two reports were presented to the GEAC, approval was delayed until April 2009. Mahyco's results were sent to several independent scientists for review and two studies showed several inconsistencies. One study by Dr. Seralini in France showed that Bt Brinjal affected animals like rats, rabbits, goats etc and even induced antibiotic resistance. The Seralini study has been instrumental is putting a delay to the GEAC approval. however the roadblock has disintegrated. Requests for Mahyco's studies to be made public has been refused by the GEAC. The Gene Campaign has filed a PIL to ensure that no GMOs are introduced without proper testing. However now that the GEAC has approved Bt Brinjal it is now time for the Center to decide.

The Environmental Minister has previously said that he does not support the release of GM food, so it is time now to make good on his promise. The release of GM-Brinjal into the mainstream will open the flood-gates for other crops to follow. A previous post talks about the environmental and health hazards of GM crops which are well documented and it is in public health interest to ensure that such crops are not encouraged. Write, fax or email Jairam Ramesh now to let him know your views.

Email Address for Jairam Ramesh: jairam@vsnl.com or jairam@sansad.nic.in or mosef@nic.in

For more information look here.

Photo Courtesy: Down to Earth

thoughts...post-world environment day

June 5th was celebrated as World Environment Day and from a previous post on similar 'events' my sentiments are clearly established. This year for me, there was a lot of excitement around the day. Excitement that made me believe; because sometimes even in the most dire times, another world is possible.

On the eve of World Environment day, one of the things that happened was a large 80-foot banner that was hung off the Mumbai-Thane Bridge which was targetted at bringing attention to the effects of climate change on the Indian monsoon. This action was part of Greenpeace's efforts to bring climate change firmly into the spotlight of national politics and debate. The monsoon which is the lifeline of so many people in India cannot be wagered in the face of development that can be potentially unsustainable. All of the devastating effects of failed monsoons including loss of revenue has been published as a report entitled 'Monsoon Wager' by Greenpeace India.

The second thing that happened which was much quieter but nonetheless important was the stand that the Environmental Minster Mr. Jairam Ramesh took on GM-food crops. The GM-battle within India has been fraught with complications, set-backs and frustrations. The lack of labelling laws, prevalence of mis-information and regulation will eventually lead to a potential mine-field if precautionary methods are not put in place now. Victories are rare and government officials taking a precautionary stand, are even rarer.

Since then obviously, the excitement has died down a little bit and life has gone back to being existence for most part. But what I'd like to take away from productive days like this one, is that even in the most challenging times, change can be demanded and even for the most cynical of us: hope floats.

world according to monsanto

Every company's major objective is to generate revenue - this is the responsibility it owes to its shareholders and its stakeholders. However, there are some among those who achieve this agenda in an ethical manner, paying attention to the triple bottom line; there are others who don't care and there are ones who pretend to care. Monsanto falls under the fourth group - pure evil.

Monsanto started off as a chemical company. It is the company responsible for Agent Orange, for the release of PCBs into the ecosphere. More recently they were responsible for bovine growth hormone (rBHG) in milk. It has since remodeled itself into the world biggest agri-biotech company. What are they after now? Global monopoly over the building blocks of human sustenance - the seed.

Over the last decade, Monsanto has aggressively bought over 50 seed companies world over. The rationale being, whoever owns the seeds owns the food. The process of genetic engineering allows companies, such as Monsanto, to claim patent rights over seeds. 90% of all GE seeds planted in the world are patented by Monsanto and hence controlled by them.

Patents on seeds give companies like Monsanto unprecedented power. Monsanto prohibits farmers saving patented GE seeds from one crop to replant the next season, an age-old practice. To ensure that farmers do not reuse seeds, Monsanto created its own 'gene police', and encourages farmers to turn in their neighbours.

Even farmers that do not use GE seeds are not safe. According to an investigative report by the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) farmers have even been sued for patent infringement after their field was contaminated by pollen or seed from someone else’s GE crop.

But Monsanto’s influence doesn't stop at the US border. “The world according to Monsanto”, documents the devastating impact of Monsanto's malpractices around the world. Among others, it includes the real-life stories of cotton farmers in India that ended up in hopeless debts after using Monsanto genetically engineered (so called Bt) cotton and of a family in Paraguay, South America whose dreams have turned to nightmares after their farm became surrounded by fields planted with Monsanto’s GE soya.

This expose, goes on to show how Monsanto has been manipulating government agencies to approve their GM seeds and policies. It also shows how the company has exploited many poor farmers world over. It gradually builds up case after case against Monsanto pointing to its ultimate aim of taking over global food production in some sort of macabre transgenic revolution. I found a link on youtube that shows the documentary in ten parts. You can order a DVD of it (in English, French and Spanish) here.

This issue is worth educating yourself about. Food is universal and affects everyone. Apart from the substantial health risks there are also enormous environmental implications involved through the cultivation of GM. Consumer pressure is the only thing that can keep companies like Monsanto from taking over global food supply. Currently in India Mahyco, based in Maharastra a subsidiary of Monsanto has participated in testing Bt Brinjal and there are currently 20 different vegetables, food grains etc under GM research. Releasing Bt Brinjal will be catastrophe. The most precious Indian crop - rice, will soon follow. This will threaten not only livelihoods of millions of farmers but also the 75000-odd(!) indigenous varieties of rice which will die out.

Speak out. Let agriculture remain the right of small farmers world over. Apathy is no longer an option. Choose to let your voice be heard.

the rise of super bugs

Three years ago I wrote my undergraduate dissertation on horizontal gene transfer, transposons and antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Whilst that was written from a genetic point of view, this post aims to explore the environmental stresses that contribute to the rise of antibiotic resistances. There are several reasons for this and the most important ones:

• medical abuse of antibiotics
• usage of antibiotics in animal feed
• genetically modified crops
• usage of antibiotics in personal and household cleaning products
• mutations occurring in bacteria
  

Antibiotic use in hospitals:
One of the major causes for the rise of resistant strains is the careless use of antibiotics by patients and prescribing physicians. Antibiotics should not be prescribed in the case of viral infections. Patients should be told to complete the full course of antibiotics. Medical practitioners should observe basic hygiene measures to prevent the spread of multi-drug resistant strains around the hospital and between patients.

Usage in animal feed:
Antibiotics can be administered to livestock as part of therapy for an animal or group of animals obviously exhibiting clinical signs of the disease or they can be administered as part of control or prevention. Growth promotion is the case in which antimicrobials are added to the feed over a period of time, which results in improved physiological performance. Antibiotic resistance can very quickly percolate through the food chain and through meat and other food products ultimately affecting humans. Animals that carry resistant strains are a direct hazard to those that work with them.

The use of antibiotics in food animals selects for bacteria resistant to antibiotics used in humans and these might spread via the food to humans and cause human infection. By avoiding meat that is grown on farms that most likely use antibiotics, you can protect yourself and the environment. Eat organic, reduce your meat intake - both of which are healthier options.

Genetically Modified Crops:
Antibiotic resistance markers are used in modifying crops in order to track whether the inserted gene is properly taken up by the host. This means that the antibiotic resistant gene is still active in the crop which if consumed can easily interact with gut bacteria to increase antibiotic resistance. Additional interactions with soil bacteria is also very possible. The answer to avoid this is easy - eat organic food and if your government is considering introducing GM food, then use your voice to stop the influx of unsafe food.

Usage of antibiotics in personal and household cleaning products:
Out of all the utterly pointless use of antibiotics, this takes the cake. I'm talking about soaps and kitchen product that are advertised as 'anti-bacterial' -- most of these contain low-grade antibiotics in minute quantities, usually Triclosan. Releasing low-grade antibiotics into the environment only worsens the situation as it gradually builds up antibiotic resistance. Studies have proven that this only temporarily kills bacteria on surfaces and within an hour old bacterial levels are present again. Soap and water still works! It's better for your skin and the environment.

Bacterial Mutations:
Bacteria are organisms which mutate very easily. They do have DNA proof-reading abilities much like our cells but due to short generation spans, mutations arise far more quickly. In addition bacteria also have a system of gene transfer which occurs cell to cell across generations and across species which makes the spread of antibiotic resistant strains extremely easy.

Initially when resistant strains of bacteria were discovered, it was found that they acquired resistance to only to a single antibiotic. As time went by and environmental selection on bacteria increased, they developed the ability to code for different antibiotic resistances on their genome. When this was transferred to other strains, these strains also became resistant to several drugs at the same time with only a single genetic transfer. This poses an incredible advantage to bacteria because it renders them resistant to a vast number of antibiotics. On the other hand, it is a terrible disadvantage to medical science because most antibiotics are ineffective and the use of very powerful antibiotics must be resorted to.

There are some antibiotic resistances which occur due to point mutations and are therefore, not transferable. However, in most cases, antibiotic resistances in bacteria result from the acquisition of a foreign resistance gene. As bacteria multiply and adapt rapidly, the threat of new antibiotic resistant strains looms even greater. This is especially relevant where there is increasing environmental pressure for bacteria to adapt. To avoid the occurrence of antibiotic resistance and outbreaks of resistant strains, prudent use of the available antibiotics is necessary. The use of antibiotics in the food and agriculture industry also contributes to resistant strains.

Just sixty years ago people died of very minor infections that can be cured today with an of antibiotics. Even today there are people in parts of the world with limited access to antibiotics to treat severe infections and there are some others who abuse it by adding it to hand-wash. Since the discovery of penicillin, bacteria have adapted to the onslaught of antibiotics and will only continue to do so. They are equipped with mechanisms of survival that we are only beginning to comprehend. It is the prudent use of existing, as well as any new antibiotics that might be discovered, that will ultimately alleviate the situation.

hail the pollen jocks

I've long been a fervent admirer of animation. Growing up with a steady diet of Disney, it's hard not to be. The movies coming out of Pixar and Dreamworks in the recent past like Finding Nemo, The Bee Movie, Wall-E, A Bug's Life, Madagascar etc all have an underlying eco-message which is enchanting once you cut across the funny voices and outstanding imagination of the moviemakers.

There has been an extinction happening that few people know about and not many have noticed. Bee species across the world are declining in number due to habitat loss, insecticide use, temperature change, disease and other factors. Most people only connect bees with honey but there are nearly 20,000 known species of bees, in nine recognized families. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants.

Bees are the major type of pollinator in ecosystems that contain flowering plants. They either focus on gathering nectar or on gathering pollen depending on demand, especially in social species. Bees gathering nectar may accomplish pollination, but bees that are deliberately gathering pollen are more efficient pollinators. It is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on insect pollination, most of which is accomplished by bees, especially the domesticated European honey bee.

The Bee Movie takes the concept of the lack of bees to a new level. Without giving away the plot (for those of you who haven't seen it) it shows the drastic consequences of what happens when pollination fails to occur. Since the movie is extremely colourful, funny and made in a way to keep even little children entertained, the consequences of no pollination is a message it gets across with litle effort. Even children cannot imagine a world without trees and flowers.

Already we are seeing drop in yields of agricultural crops and further drop in bee populations will make the situation drastic. Many fruit, nut, vegetable, legume, and seed crops depend on pollination. Some crops that require pollination are: apples, avocados, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, cucumbers, melons, oranges, grapefruit, pumpkins, squash, sunflowers, tangerines, and watermelon. Also, forage plants like clover and alfalfa need pollination (cows feed on clover).

Perhaps the greatest value of honey bee pollination is seeds destined for worldwide distribution: 20 vegetables produce seeds only if their flowers are pollinated. Direct and indirect effects cannot be estimated: ornamental shrubs and trees, wild plants (on which wild animals and birds forage), beeswax, honey. Drop in bee population is going to have a direct impact on food production and ultimately global economy.

Scientist also say that the drop in population is also linked to the Bt toxin in GM plants which interfere with their systems leading to collapse of whole colonies - another reason to go organic. All of this only shows that human activities on the planet affect entire ecosystems with ultimate drastic effects on our survival as a species. The kingdom of heaven does indeed belong to the meek.

franken-food?

The onset of rise in food prices which is projected to get worse puts GM food squarely back in the spot-light. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be defined as organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally. Genetic engineering allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another, also between non-related species.

GM foods are developed – and marketed – because there is some perceived advantage either to the producer or consumer of these foods. This is meant to translate into a product with a lower price, greater benefit (in terms of durability or nutritional value) or both. Initially GM seed developers wanted their products to be accepted by producers so have concentrated on innovations that farmers (and the food industry more generally) would appreciate. The GM crops currently on the market are mainly aimed at an increased level of crop protection through the introduction of resistance against plant diseases caused by insects or viruses or through increased tolerance towards herbicides.

All of this sounds much like magic, you take a gene put it into another plant and hey presto! the plant is resistant to diseases which reduces use of pesticides. On the flip side, essentially what the technology does is introduce foreign genetic material into a natural environment.

What's so bad about that you might ask - nothing much, except that genes move around a lot and one of the things they are adept at doing is mutation. So this brings about the question of human health - how does consuming GM food affect human health? The three main issues debated are tendencies to provoke allergic reaction, gene transfer and outcrossing. It has been shown that people living near GM fields ave developed skin rashes and other ailments. As for gene transfer which frankly, worries me more - gene transfer from GM foods to cells of the body or to bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract can occur. This would be particularly relevant if antibiotic resistance genes, used in creating GMOs, were to be transferred. Additionally transfer of genes to other soil microbes is also a possibility. The movement of genes from GM plants into conventional crops or related species in the wild is outcrossing, as well as the mixing of crops derived from conventional seeds with those grown using GM crops, may have an indirect effect on food safety and security.

I'm not even going to get into the environmental hazards of GMO but for the record one of the things it does do is kill Monarch butterfly larvae. So why has such a relatively untested technology deemed safe after field trials that have lasted less than 10years? The simple reason is that GM represents big bucks to seed companies who can monopolize the agri-industry by touting GM as the new miracle food. These companies are based in the US and by clever marketing strategy have fooled poor farmers into thinking that this super-seed is better.

The US has embraced GM for the last 30 years and about 80% of soya and maize products consumed is now GM. The EU continues to oppose GM and India is slowly opening out into the new technology. India of course is under pressure to feed its growing population in the midst of failing monsoons. Inspite of this, let us be clear that there is no short-fall of food production (yet) but the country lacks proper distribution channels. Instead of spending on GM research; it would make more economical sense to invest in establishing better distribution channels, encourage the small farmers and protect existing agricultural land to ensure future food security.

As far as India and other developing nations are concerned, GM is absolutely the wrong way to go. One of the pit-falls that the big seed honchos fail to mention is that GM technology only works on large scale and India's agricultural backbone are the small farmers. In this scenario, small-scale permaculture or organic farming is the way to go which has been proved to produce more yield per acre as opposed to chemical farming.

Most worryingly India has no clear rules and regulations in place to check in-coming GM contamination by form of food imports nor does it have in place stringent methods of testing and approval of GM food products. The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) in collaboration with Monsanto is now moving towards introducing GM Brinjal with the Bt gene transcribed to increase pest resistance. Think about this - with food grains, there is a processing stage that diminishes the effect of the toxin but with a vegetable, it is consumed with absolutely no processing. All I'm saying is that people have a right to know what they eat and where their food comes from. With current, very ambiguous laws in place, this information isn't going to reach the consumer. If Bt Brinjal is introduced in the market, we will not be able to tell the difference as India does not package and label fresh produce. As a result we will lose a basic consumer right of knowing what is in our product before we buy it.