Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Join the 'Save our Food!' Campaign

Our food is in for irreversible contamination, and our wealth of seeds in for irreversible loss because of a policy that our Government is planning to enforce in a month's time!

By learning what, why, how and ACTING NOW, we could all actually stop it from happening by exercising our rights for safe food!!

You may already know that Bt Brinjal, a genetically modified brinjal variety produced by a multinational company called Monsanto, is awaiting approval to be introduced in India. Bt is a soil bacterium called Bacillus Thuringiensis with pesticidal properties, whose gene is introduced into brinjal, which they claim will reduce pesticide use. But our experience with Bt Cotton introduced in India in 2003 has shown us that it is a false claim. Bt Cotton has
* caused large-scale crop failure and has increased pesticide use, pushing lakhs of farmers to commit suicide. (See attachment)
* killed thousands of cattle which grazed on the fields.
* caused severe allergies and other illness for farm workers.
GM foods introduced elsewhere in the world have caused massive crop failures and severe health problems. Jeffrey Smith has documented about 65 diseases and disorders in his book 'Genetic Roulette'. In Philippines, villagers living near GM Maize fields have even died! And for all these reasons, Italy, Ireland, Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, South Africa and Switzerland have either banned or enforced a moratorium on the cultivation of GM food crops. Moreover, surveys say that more than 90% of Americans, and almost 100% of Europeans are against GM foods. In India, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Kerala, West Bengal, Uttaranchal and Orissa have banned GM foods.

Please come with your colleagues, students, friends and family to learn more and find out how you can help stop the approval of Bt Brinjal, and thereby GM foods in India to
SPACES, 1, Elliots Beach Road, Besant Nagar, Chennai 600090

on Sunday, Jan 10th, 2010
from 2.30 to 6.30 pm

Please write to safefoodalliance@gmail.com to register if you are participating in the event. For more information, contact Rupesh at 98849-58194

Let's come together to save our food before it is too late!

Volunteers,
Safe Food Alliance
www.safefoodalliance.blogspot.com

2 comments:

Neyveli Santhanagopalan said...

Hi,I am a classical singer.

I fully support your cause and these BT varieties should never be allowed to enter into India.
Please tell me how I can personally do something from my side for this .

Thanks,

Neyveli Santhanagopalan.
Chennai.

akash/pbakash@yahoo.com said...

Hi! How to identify the Genetically modified brinjals?