GMO Cotton - a Terrorist For Indian Farmers (Two articles)

[nosmokes]

Yeah, That Bt cotton is just such a blessing for the poor farmers on the subcontinent. They love it so much they kill themselves over it. Ana it's the gift from that just keeps giving and giving. First it puts the farmer in debt and makes a virtual slave of him; then it kills his his sheep, then it takes his land from him, then it kills him. and all along it's been befouling the land and the water and poisoning the people with the increased use of pesticides.GMOs. A solution in search of a problem.Be sure to read both articles
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original-indiatimes

Bug makes meal of Punjab cotton, whither Bt magic?

CHANDIGARH: The magic of Bt cotton in southern Punjab has vanished. Weary and stressed farmers - who are said to have sprayed pesticides worth over Rs 500 crore (over $120 million) this season to save their cotton crop from the mealy bug - are headed for major losses this time around.

Just a few months ago, in the February assembly elections in Punjab, the victory of the Congress in assembly seats from the once Akali Dal stronghold of Malwa - the cotton growing belt of south Punjab - was credited to the two years of success of the genetically modified Bt (<i>Bacillus thuringiensis</i>) cotton crop with its bumper yields and returns.

But in the first cotton season after the Akalis took over in Punjab, the mealy bug - a kind of insect - has wreaked devastation in Malwa's fields.

"Nobody knows clearly about this insect that is destroying our crops. After two bumper seasons, we are heading straight for a major loss. The farmers are in a crisis," stated Bachan Singh showing his 'mealy bug'-infested cotton crop in his fields near Sardulgarh, 250 km from here.

Farmers refer to the mealy bug as "chitti bhoondi" (white insect) in local parlance.

Hundreds of farmers in this belt of Punjab and even in neighbouring Pakistan could have never imagined that Bt cotton could be hit by a virus. The white-colour bug, considered deadlier than the American bollworm, is now threatening the cotton crop in Punjab and elsewhere. At least 25 per cent of the crop is already destroyed.

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complete article here

original-countercurrents

Bt Cotton And Economic Drain
In Punjab

By K.Jayaram

31 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org

The much hyped Bt Cotton and increased yields, reduced plant protection costs were fall flat with the Mealy bug infestation on Bt Cotton in Punjab. There is a huge economic drain from Punjab due to cultivation of Bt Cotton. The honeymoon of Bt Cotton was over and trouble started now.

I met some pesticide dealers, farmers and the employee of a Pesticide Company (Nagarjuna chemicals) during my last visit to Punjab to collect the data on pesticide sales. I got some interesting data on pesticide sales in this year. Mealy bug attack on Bt Cotton in Punjab is responsible for increased sales in pesticides. Profenofos is the largest beneficiary out of this mealybug incidence. Mealybug incidence is common in all the Bt Cotton varieties and most devastation was observed in the Bt Cotton varieties brought from Gujarat.

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complete article here

[kestrel91316]

1. Well I'm sure Monsanto can engineer a cotton that's resistant to

mealybug, right?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. There we are again with that "terrorist" word.

[nosmokes]

3. When the jackboot fits...

Monsanto employees won't eat GMo food in their own company cafeteria but Monsanto has no qualms with forcing GMOs on poor people in developing countries and w/ the help of the World Bank and the WTO putting them into debt doing it. It may not be as flashy as flying planes into buildings or setting off bombs on trains but the death toll is a hella lot higher, as is the profit factor.Just because it's done by folks in suits and lab-coats doesn't make it any less terrorism than the atrocities done those in dungarees and kaffiyehs.