Director of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) calls GMO labelling requirement "ridiculous"
Previously we reported how Dr Rafiqul Islam Mondol, director general of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), lost his temper after reporters questioned him about Bt brinjal health effects.
Continuing on his anti-science crusade, now Dr Rafiqul (item 1 below) has dismissed as "ridiculous" the notion that the Bt brinjals should be labelled in the market as GM – even though Bangladesh's National Committee on Biosafety has imposed this condition for all GM crops!
BARI's claim that it conducted "nutrition tests" on the Bt brinjal prior to release of the seeds to farmers is utterly worthless without peer-reviewed published data.
And the Monsanto subsidiary Mahyco's reported claim that "the GM varieties would not pose any hazard to public health and the ecosystem" should be challenged in court, since Mahyco's own tests on rats showed that Bt brinjal is toxic.
1. BARI admits no health tests done on Bt brinjal
2. Compensation to cheated farmers is a must
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1. BARI admits no health tests done on Bt brinjal
Abu Bakar Siddique
Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh), 8 Sept 2014
http://www.dhakatribune.com/agriculture/2014/sep/08/bari-admits-no-health-tests-done-bt-brinjal
* BARI only conducted nutrition tests at a Dhaka University laboratory
The government has finally acknowledged that before releasing four varieties of genetically modified Bt brinjal – patented by US seed giant Monsanto – at the farmers’ level, it did not conduct any laboratory test by itself regarding the possible negative impacts on human health.
“We could not carry out any test regarding human health hazards of Bt brinjal in Bangladesh due to the absence of necessary laboratories,” Dr Rafiqul Islam Mondol, director general of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), told reporters yesterday.
He, however, claims Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco), in which Monsanto has 26% stake, assured the government that the GM varieties would not pose any hazard to public health and the ecosystem.
His statement comes only a day after BARI in a circular published in dailies claimed that they had released the varieties after several local and international laboratories confirmed that there were no health and environmental hazards.
The circular also said BARI had conducted nutrition tests at a Dhaka University laboratory.
On October 30 last year, BARI released the four GM varieties without giving any satisfactory explanation on the issues related to environmental and health hazards – raised by campaigners. The move was even challenged in court.
In the face of concerns, the government in late December tasked the BCSIR, better known as science laboratory, to analyse whether the GM varieties had any negative health impact. The report is yet to be prepared.
Mahyco’s brinjal varieties, developed with the financial support of USAID, were banned in India in 2010 after it was exposed that there were harmful effects.
In addition to India and Bangladesh, the same group earlier developed GM brinjal varieties in the Philippines. But the move was stalled by a court order, considering the health hazards.
BARI claims that the GM varieties were popular in countries like US and Canada since they significantly cut the use of pesticides.
Brinjal is one of the major vegetables produced in countries like Bangladesh in South Asia. Bangladesh also exports the vegetable.
According to BARI, it is developed by Bt Uttara, Bt Kajla, Bt Noyontara and Bt ISD 006 from local varieties by inserting Monsanto’s Bt gene into them after a seven-year experiment which started in 2006, with the technical support of Mahyco.
In February this year, BARI distributed Bt brinjal saplings among 20 farmers in four different regions – Gazipur, Jamalpur, Rangpur and Ishwardi – to be cultivated in one bigha land each for the first time in the country.
However, most of them yielded poor results.
The BARI chief last month told the Dhaka Tribune that the government had plans to demonstrate Bt brinjal at field level extensively, this time among 100 farmers, in the upcoming season to make the product popular among farmers.
Yesterday’s press conference, held at the city’s Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) conference room, was also attended by nine out of the 20 farmers. They shared their feelings on the problems they had faced while cultivating the Bt brinjal varieties.
All the farmers admitted that the government had provided them saplings and Tk8,000 each for cultivating the Bt brinjals.
The farmers also admitted that they faced huge financial loses due to the poor production output as most of the saplings died at different stages of cultivation.
“I had to count huge financial loss by cultivating Bt Brinjal as I could produce brinjals worth Tk5,000 by spending Tk8,000 and all of my labour,” said Monsur Rahman Sarker, a farmer from Kaliganj, Gazipur.
He said earlier he used to produce brinjals worth Tk1,00,000 on one bigha land.
However, as per the circular, the only one or two farmers failed to be successful as they did not follow the guidelines properly.
The BARI chief said the problems was that the saplings where distributed late in the season. He said this year they would distribute the varieties in October-November which is the appropriate season for brinjal cultivation.
On the issue of labelling the GM brinjals before marketing them, Dr Rafiqul told the Dhaka Tribune that it would not be possible to maintain labelling while selling the brinjals. It would be ridiculous.
According to a condition imposed by the National Committee on Biosafety, no GM crop can be sold without labels – a precondition imposed by them. The Bt brinjals produced by the 20 farmers were sold at local markets allegedly without any label.
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2. Compensation to cheated farmers is a must
New Age (Bangladesh), September 2, 2014
http://newagebd.net/44629/compensation-to-cheated-farmers-is-a-must/#sthash.tHnEpH1k.7cBnnpIU.dpbs
The demand by the farmers, on Sunday, for compensation for the huge losses they have incurred cultivating the genetically modified Bt brinjal sounds logical and, thus, justifiable as the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute itself distributed saplings of this crop, developed by its scientists, among 20 farmers of Gazipur, Jamalpur, Sherpur, Rangpur and Pabna in the capital Dhaka in January, in the presence of the agriculture minister. As New Age reported on Monday, quoting these farmers, they were beguiled into cultivating this genetically modified crop, being used as ‘guinea pigs’ in its cultivation. It was crystal clear from the farmers’ complaints that only one of the 20 Bt brinjal fields ‘succeeded’, while 13 were ‘fully’ and the rest six were ‘partially’ damaged.
The institute at the time of distribution claimed that the variety would be pest-proof and bring more profit than the fruit and shoot borer-prone local variety, although independent experts have persistently protested against its commercial cultivation on account of its adverse impact on human health and environment. It now seems that the institute may not have told the truth. Bt Brinjal plants at some fields are either dead or struggling to grow. Besides, those growing well are coming under the attack of shoot borer and other pests. Some farmers alleged that they faced the situation even after following the instructions issued by the institute.
It is important to note that most of these farmers are poor, and have no other options but to depend on the cultivation of one of the most consumed vegetables in the country for sustenance. A few years ago, dozens of Indian farmers committed suicide; they too had believed in the assurance of the US-based seed giant Monsanto that its Bt Cotton seed guarantees good production and thus profit, and ended up with heavy debt burden for crop failure.
Notably, Bt brinjal was originally developed by Monsanto and BARI has received the technology from Mahyco, an Indian giant, affiliated to Monsanto. It is unacceptable that when GM crops and foods based on them are barred from entering the US and EU markets and the cultivation of these crops are banned in India and the Philippines, the Awami League-led government is serving the purpose of Monsanto and Mahyco at the cost of our farmers’ interest. The government would be well advised to immediately arrange proper compensation to the cheated farmers and stop cultivation of the controversial crop once and for all.