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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Sun Jun 30, 2013, 09:08 AM Jun 2013

India's seed saviour goes against the corporate grain – in pictures

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/gallery/2013/jun/28/india-seed-corporate-grain-in-pictures


Dr Debal Deb stands in the middle of his partly built seed bank in Odisha. He is using local, sustainable materials and local labour. Deb plans to use the seed bank to educate people about the importance of adopting a holistic, sustainable approach to farming


Deb works in a field at his first farm in West Bengal state. Apart from his work with rice, he is a key proponent of the 'food web theory’, which aims to establish scientific proof of an overwhelmingly positive relationship between all plant and animal life.


A field where Deb grows some of the 920 varieties of indigenous rice he has helped to save from extinction. Industrial agriculture and GM farming, which favour seed monocultures, have been partly responsible for the loss of more than 90% of India’s indigenous rice seed
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India's seed saviour goes against the corporate grain – in pictures (Original Post) xchrom Jun 2013 OP
A blow against Monsatan! LiberalEsto Jun 2013 #1
Kick. CrispyQ Jun 2013 #2
I wish him great good fortune and protection loudsue Jun 2013 #3
Monsatan is CRIMINAL. DeSwiss Jun 2013 #4
Another failure of the M$M and the government regulators blackspade Jun 2013 #8
K & R ctsnowman Jun 2013 #5
No, there's not. wtmusic Jun 2013 #6
Thanks for this xchrom. nt. polly7 Jun 2013 #7
The natural world rewards genetic diversity through evolution. Enthusiast Jun 2013 #9
 

LiberalEsto

(22,845 posts)
1. A blow against Monsatan!
Sun Jun 30, 2013, 09:41 AM
Jun 2013

People like Deb are the folks trying to save humanity from corporate monoculture.

 

DeSwiss

(27,137 posts)
4. Monsatan is CRIMINAL.
Sun Jun 30, 2013, 11:21 AM
Jun 2013
- K&R!

GMO's FROM MONSANTO HAVE NEVER MET MINIMUM SCIENTIFIC TESTING PROTOCOLS AND STANDARDS

"Our study contradicts Monsanto conclusions because Monsanto systematically neglects significant health effects in mammals that are different in males and females eating GMO's, or not proportional to the dose. This is a very serious mistake, dramatic for public health. This is the major conclusion revealed by our work, the only careful reanalysis of Monsanto crude statistical data."

Other Problems With Monsanto's Conclusions

When testing for drug or pesticide safety, the standard protocol is to use three mammalian species. The subject studies only used rats, yet won GMO approval in more than a dozen nations.

Chronic problems are rarely discovered in 90 days; most often such tests run for up to two years. Tests "lasting longer than three months give more chances to reveal metabolic, nervous, immune, hormonal or cancer diseases," wrote Seralini, et al, in their Doull rebuttal. (See "How Subchronic and Chronic Health Effects Can Be Neglected for GMO's, Pesticides or Chemicals." IJBS; 2009; 5(5):438-443.)

Further, Monsanto's analysis compared unrelated feeding groups, muddying the results. The June 2009 rebuttal explains, "In order to isolate the effect of the GM transformation process from other variables, it is only valid to compare the GMO … with its isogenic non-GM equivalent."

The researchers conclude that the raw data from all three GMO studies reveal novel pesticide residues will be present in food and feed and may pose grave health risks to those consuming them.


link



ctsnowman

(1,903 posts)
5. K & R
Sun Jun 30, 2013, 11:22 AM
Jun 2013

Is there any way that cross pollination won't eventually contaminate all seed? I'm not being a snark but wondered if you knew.

Thanks for the post.

wtmusic

(39,166 posts)
6. No, there's not.
Sun Jun 30, 2013, 12:10 PM
Jun 2013

That's why if we're going to allow GM plants anywhere there better be a damn good reason.

Honestly, I can't think of one that's good enough.

Enthusiast

(50,983 posts)
9. The natural world rewards genetic diversity through evolution.
Sun Jun 30, 2013, 01:18 PM
Jun 2013

I'm just saying. These seed banks might turn out to be more valuable than anyone would have predicted.

Is there a provision whereby one might donate to Dr Debal Deb's cause?

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