- A padayatra is a march on foot. Brinjal is
eggplant. And this is not only on behalf of food safety. Genetically
engineered food come from patented seeds, so the issue is the colonization
of India's food supply by Monsanto and others. It is control over
food and thus over people. Both survival and democracy are at stake.
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- Already, more than 200,000 Bt-cotton farmers have committed
suicide in India (the largest mass suicide in history), trapped into the
high cost and debt of biotech companies' patented seeds.
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- And industrial farming is a leading cause of global destruction
- deforestation, poisoning of soil, poisoning of ocean fish stocks from
run-off of pesticides, birth defects, cancers, intense use of fossil fuels
for production (pesticides, fertilizers, etc.) and running equipment and
for transportation in a world market.
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- Local organic farming is the opposite....
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- Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 11:38 AM, Devinder Sharma
- hunger55@gmail.com wrote:
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- I haven't seen this happening [for a long time]. College
students in a colorful and long padayatra snaking through the
narrow lanes of the Walled City of Delhi, stopping consumers and explaining
about GM foods to them. If you walked through the meandering lanes
of old Delhi, around the area popularly called Chandni Chowk, you can imagine
what a treat it must be to see the young students flashing placards and
distributing leaflets to ignorant citizens.
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- More than 600 students from Zakir Hussain College and
Youth for Safe Food walked through the streets of old Delhi distributing
pamphlets and interacting with curious onlookers as to what Bt brinjal
meant to them. I spoke to Ankit and Radha, the two amazing youngsters who
have been relentlessly on their toes mobilising the young college students about
the inherent dangers from Bt brinjal, and they told me that it
was a spectacular padyatra. They strongly feel that this is perhaps one
of the best ways to reach out to public and create an informed debate.
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- I am sure in the days to come we will see more colleges
and youth organisation taking to streets creating awareness about the havoc
that awaits the society with the introduction of GM food crops into the
country.
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- Here is a press release about the padyatra:
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- New Delhi, December 17th 2009: A Lok Chetna Padayatra
with more than 500 youth participating in it, reached out to citizens of
the Old City of Delhi to create awareness on the issue of GM foods and
Bt Brinjal in particular here today. The padayatra, taken out by the students
of Zakir Husain College and Youth for Safe Food put out information on
GM foods and about Bt Brinjal in particular to the residents of the Old
City of Delhi and contended that creating an informed debate on the issue
is the only democratic way forward for decision-making on GM foods like
Bt Brinjal.
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- "A majority of the countries around the world do
not allow GM crop cultivation and many aware citizens are exercising their
right to safe food because informed debates have allowed them to make such
decisions. We realize the importance of such a debate in India too at this
juncture, as the government is trying to decide on whether Bt Brinjal should
be approved or not. Let us remember that GE seeds constitute an irreversible
technology and therefore, a very cautious approach is the only wise way
forward" said Dr Mohd. Aslam Parvaiz. "We need ordinary citizens
to get involved in decision-making related to something as basic as the
food that we eat for our sustenance and survival and we hope that this
padayatra will contribute to citizens making informed choices about their
food", he added.
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- Bt Brinjal has been cleared by the Indian regulators
in October 2009 amidst concerns and reservations expressed from various
quarters. No such GM vegetable has ever been introduced anywhere else in
the world and no GM foods have been allowed for cultivation in India so
far.
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- "Bt Brinjal has been developed in India despite
the fact that we are the Centre of Origin & Diversity for this crop.
All clearances have been given based on the crop developer's data and there
are several reports which show that objectionable conflicting interests
were allowed to drive the decision-making for recommending Bt Brinjal.
Media reports showed the Chairperson of an Expert Committee which had cleared
Bt Brinjal himself expressing the need for more tests on this new product
and he had gone on record to say that we do not know at this point of time
how much damage these foods will cause.
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- He clearly reiterated what many scientists around the
world are concerned about that GE foods are not equal to normal foods.
Further, no long term studies exist so far on Bt Brinjal to assess its
chronic impacts and there is a serious dearth of independent research to
prove its safety. Worse, independent analyses of the crop developer's data
show that it is unsafe for human and animal health. It is in the context
of all this knowledge existing with us that we decided to reach out to
fellow citizens so that they can make informed decisions about this matter",
said Nayani Nasa of Youth for Safe Food.
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