Dear friends,
Please find a report from Haryana. Yesterday in Guntur,
I came across many farmers who are complaining about their chilli crop getting more susceptible to viruses and they think
it is because of Bt Cotton; they are also reporting that milk yield has gone down by around 25% after eating grass/fodder
from fields where Bt Cotton is grown. They are also talking about more miscarriages now in their buffaloes and cows and they
attribute it to Bt Cotton.
kavitha
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Forwarded message ----------
From: "LOKVAANI " <lokvaani 'AT' rediffmail.com>
To: info 'AT' gmwatch.org
Date:
29 Feb 2008 11:19:36 -0000
Subject: MILK IS DRYING UP Thanks BT COTTON
Kind attention:
GMWatch.org,
Institute of Science
in Society, London, UK,
Mr Harpal Singh ji Grewal,
Mr A P J Abdul Kalam, Former President of India,
Prof. Anil
K. Gupta, IIM Ahmedabad,
President of Republic of India, The Hindu,
Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests,
Govt of India
Dear Sir/Madam,
I would request you to kindly help farmers by publishing
/ studying this preliminary report appended below when we are trying to take wider studies for planning civil society action
for elimination of BT cotton from farmers field and their minds.
sincerely
Sudhir Kumar Kaura
PhD
Milk is Drying Up - Thanks to Plants With Dangerous Genes
Milk Yield is Reduced by about 50% in Buffaloes due to
feed based on BT Cotton Seeds - Say Farmers in India
BT Cotton is being promoted the world over by the governments
at the cost of health of humans and animals alike. Farmers in India
have seen BT cotton, the genetically modified monster plant killing thousands of sheep. Now the animal feed based on this
dreaded genetically modified (GM) plant is reducing the milk yields of their animals to half and making them sick. Is it right
for the governments to push a technology with proven killing ability? Farmers
are not lodging any complaint against the companies regarding ill effects of BT cotton which is surprising. Now some civil
society action is required to be taken to help the farmers and stop the companies from pushing these unsafe GM seed in the
market targetting the illiterate farmers in India.
Village Sadalpur, District Hisar, Haryana State, India
Dated :
29 Feb. 2008
While the corrupt government officers and unscrupulous
traders in cotton growing states of India
is busy in counting their black money, people especially farmers have been experiencing a survival question. BT Cotton
is making them sick, their animals are becoming unhealthy and unable to yield milk to normal level.
Another startling Revelation has come from a reputed farmer
of the area. According to Mr Balwant Son of Mr Het Ram Punia in Sadalpur village, milk yield of his Buffaloes has been reduced
to about 50 % due to feed based on BT Cotton Seeds. Oilcake of BT Cotton seeds is widely fed to animals in this part of north west India only about 5 hours drive from New Delhi, the capital city of India, which is in
the Haryana State.
Mr Balwant who is a well known farmers in the area says
that when he fed his buffaloes oilcake from non-GM cotton he did not observed any health problem and decline in milk yield.
He says that BT Cotton is quite harmful to the animals and it will definitely affect people who consume milk from animals
fed with feed based on BT Cotton Seeds.
The state government and local agricultural universities
and other agricultural institutes of the government have kept mum on the issue of harmful effects on BT cotton on animals
and human beings (millions of farmers are affected by the skin problems like itching, rashes, allergy, etc.)
References:
1. http://www.i-sis.org.uk/BTAllergyNorthIndia.php
2. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8702
3. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1868
This article was first published at
http://myharyana.meraharyana.in/2008/02/milk-is-drying-up-thanks-to-p...
one can comment, interact and share more information on this issue.
contributed by Dr Sudhir Kumar Kaura, PhD Genetics (Dr
Sudhir Kumar Kaura is a biotechnologist and geneticist who has dedicated his life in elimination of dangerous technologies
like genetic engineering in plants and animals. He believes that BT Cotton and other genetically modified [GM] are being promoted
by the Governments in India and other
countries at the cost of health of humans and animals and ecology)
Phone: 00919354172987, 00911662229163 (from outside India)
Phone: 09354172987, 01662229163 (from within India)
E-mail: lokvaani 'AT' rediffmail.com
Support Us:
To help the civil society action for elimination
of genetically modified
plants and such dangerous technologies and products, kindly make donations
at www.EcoIndia.co.cc <http://www.ecoindia.co.cc/> and to all organisations
as well serving international community in a selfless manner.
....................................................................................................................
Union Minister for Health, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss's party
(PMK) say a clear no to GM Crops
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), the first political party
in India to say a clear NO to GE
CHENNAI, 2nd March, 2007: Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder leader S Ramadoss
today demanded the Tamilnadu government to ensure that the State remained free of genetically modified farm seeds and warned
that he would lend his weight behind protests to block the entry of genetically modified farm inputs. Inaugurating an
awareness campaign rally here to Save Rice and ensure Tamilnadu remained free of genetic crops, organised by Pasumai Thayagam
and other NGOs, Ramadoss said there was an urgent need for the farmers, people and the NGOs to join hands to fight the threat
of genetically modified seeds sold by multinational companies.
Assuring his full support to such movements, which seek
to protect the nation's natural resources, the PMK leader said it was only because of some self-seeking bureaucrats, politicians,
and scientists that multinational companies which sell 'such dangerous,' farms inputs were able to establish themselves here.
In a clear note of caution to the Central and State governments Ramadoss said 'come what may you should never allow genetically
engineered seeds in Tamilnadu.' Explaining that a lot of farmers were affected by cultivating Bt cotton, he urged the Tamilnadu
government to give compensation to all the affected. Incidentally, the Union Minister for Health, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss
belongs to PMK. While other parties in the country have taken up the issue of GM crops in an opportunistic manner, PMK is
the first political party to clearly take a stand on GM crops.
Source: http://www.indiagminfo.org/home.htm
