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The rationale of the bill on biotechnology, according to the state minister, is to set up a national institute of biotechnology to ensure Bangladesh’s socio-economic development through usage of biotechnology. The proposed national institute will be run by an 18-member board of directors led by the science and ICT secretary. That is, it will be actually run by the bureaucrats and given the reality of Bangladesh, it implies absence of public participation in decision-making process.
Potential negative impact of the introduction of the GM food crops in agriculture is of serious concern in Bangladesh, more so, because the country is one of the sites of origin of global biodiversity. The stake for biodiversity and the livelihood of millions of farmers is enormous. If the threat of biological pollution is added to already threatened environment, ecology and biodiversity caused by chemical and pesticide based agriculture with extraction of groundwater, introduction of genetically modified crop could be disastrous. GMOs are not the solution to lack of organic matter in the soil and the stagnant productivity of the so called ‘modern’ or HYV varities, reported in studies conducted by mainstream institutions including the World Bank. Bangladesh requires a reversal of policies to safeguard whatever is left: the immense potential of the confluence of water, soil, greenery, traditional knowledge and generational practices of farming communities.
A democratically elected government tabling such a controversial bill is unexpected, particularly in the absence of the opposition. It is all the more alarming to see that there was no consultation held outside the parliament with the relevant environmental groups and, most importantly, even with any representative from farming communities. Having two-thirds majority in the parliament, the grand alliance government will have no difficulty in passing the bill but only prove that a brute majority in parliament may prove disastrous for a country; Bangladesh is already vulnerable to environmental and ecological disasters, and threats of climate change is already looming. The democratic attitude of the government is conspicuously lacking here, particularly towards the farmers. It is not known whether the parliamentary standing committee will hold any public consultation within the 21 days to finalise its recommendations. So far, no such effort has been visible.
The introduction of the bill in Bangladesh parliament coincided with the scheduled announcement in India of the Bt Brinjal verdict on Feb 10. The Indian government had declared its verdict a day before following severe opposition from states, farmers and environmental groups, and halted its plans to allow commercial cultivation of the first genetically modified eggplant or Bt Brinjal. The Indian environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, announced imposition of the “moratorium on the release” of Bt Brinjal till the time when “independent scientific studies establish, to the satisfaction of both the public and professionals, the safety of the product from the point of view of its long-term impact on human health and environment.” Unfortunately, such consultations are not held in Bangladesh, yet a law is being enacted to enable GM crops to be grown in Bangladesh. This raises serious questions for environmentalists and those opposing the release of GM food and crops in Bangladesh as well as in India. Why did Bangladesh have to take this initiative at a time when India had decided on the moratorium? Is this merely a coincidence or a plan to help Bt Brinjal continue with its commercial release?
Concerns were also expressed in the Indian media that the ‘environment ministry’s moratorium on the commercial release of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Brinjal in India is unlikely to keep the genetically modified crop out of Indian kitchens. “It may creep in via Bangladesh and Philippines,” according to A R Reddy, co-chair of Genetic Engineering Approval (now Appraisal) Committee (GEAC) that approved the vegetable for commercial use (Business Standard, Feb 14, 2010). According to A R Reddy, Bangladesh and the Philippines were in an advanced stage of releasing Bt Brinjal in their respective countries. Once that happened, it would be tough for the government to keep an eye on the movement of seeds. The tabling of the “National Institute of Biotechnology Bill-2010″ in the parliament immediately after the moratorium in India proves this concern to be true. Gravely risking biological pollution and health of human beings and other animal life Bt Brinjal will be cultivated in Bangladesh in order to provide opportunity for GMO companies to make money against the interest of the farmers of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is a target country for Bt Brinjal under the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II (ABSP II) and the ‘Monsanto technology’ – a joint venture with Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco) and its collaboration with the private seed company East West Seeds in Bangladesh. Mahyco is transferring the technology and basic breeding material of Bt Brinjal to two Indian public sector institutions (PSIs), the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore (TNAU) and the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (UASD), though its ownership still rests with Mahyco. The Bt Brinjal contains a gene construct of ‘Cry 1 Ac’ from Monsanto, the American MNC, which has a 26 per cent stake in Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech (MMB). The PSIs will use the Mahyco material to backcross with their own brinjal varieties to incorporate the genetic event into them, imparting tolerance to the fruit and stem borers of brinjal that cause severe damage.
This partnership arrangement is extended to the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, University of Philippines in Los Banos, a government research institute Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and a private seed company, East West Seeds, Bangladesh. The ABSP II, funded by USAID and led by Cornell University, aims to provide substantial benefits from agricultural biotechnology to countries in East and West Africa, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The Bt Brinjal is actually a piracy of the local brinjals to be genetically modified for patenting by Monsanto-Mahyco partnership.
According to newspaper reports (Nayadiganta, 13 Feb, 2010) BARI has been conducting field trial of Bt Brinjal with an MOU with Mahyco since 2006. According to BARI sources as quoted by the report, it may take another 2 years for widespread cultivation by the farmers. It is at this very crucial time that the proposed biotechnology institute bill is being tabled in the parliament which will set standards and issue certificates for genetically modified foods and genetically modified organisms, according to sections 9 (e) of the bill. Biotechnology is often seen as beneficial to human beings, and in Bangladesh it is argued that biotechnology is a scientific advancement. But according to Greenpeace, “While scientific progress on molecular biology has a great potential to increase our understanding of nature and provide new medical tools, it should not be used as justification to turn the environment into a giant genetic experiment by commercial interests. The biodiversity and environmental integrity of the world’s food supply is too important to our survival to be put at risk.”
In India, the farmers’ groups and environmental activists welcomed the moratorium on Bt Brinjal announced by Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. Greenpeace campaigner Jai Krishna however warned that the environment minister “must reassure the nation that the moratorium will not lead to a backdoor entry of Bt Brinjal or the 41 other GM food crops which are in different stages of trial in the country. A strong message should be sent out making GM developers liable for any accidental or illegal releases”.
The Bangladesh government is a signatory of the Cartagena Protocol on biosafety, which is the first international agreement to regulate the transboundary movements of genetically engineered (GE) organisms. The Biosafety Protocol is a subsidiary agreement to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which was signed by over 150 governments at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The Protocol itself was agreed to in Montreal in January 2000 and came into force on September 11, 2003. Following the obligation of the protocol, the government formulated the Biosafety Guidelines for Bangladesh by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2005 which was earlier formulated in 1999. Considering the obligation of the said protocol, the guidelines have been updated through an initiative of the Ministry of Environment and Forest. The ministry has also taken the National Policy on Biotechnology into consideration and recast various aspects of Risk Assessment and Risk Management in light of the Cartegena Protocol. The Biosafety Protocol is an agreement designed to regulate the international trade, handling and use of genetically engineered organisms that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, also taking into account risks to human health.
According to the Biosafety Guidelines of Bangladesh, GMO introduction must not interfere with the protection of genetic resources and biological diversity.
Bangladesh is among the few known as the country of origin for brinjals. There are many varieties of brinjals in the country and farmers are growing them in different agro-ecological zones. The introduction of Bt Brinjal will pose a threat to the genetic diversity of brinjals and allow monopoly control of genetic resources by multinational companies by destroying sovereign rights of farmers over seeds. This is not acceptable. We do not need Bt Brinjal, as we have many vareities of our own.
Activist in women’s movement, environment and health issues in Bangladesh. She is also the executive director of UBINIG (Policy Reserach for Development Alternative), a well-known policy research and advocacy organisation in Bangladesh and a founding member of Nayakrishi Andolon (New Agricultural Movement), led by Bangladeshi peasants for biodiversity-based ecological agriculture.
Activist in women’s movement, environment and health issues in Bangladesh. She is also the executive director of UBINIG (Policy Reserach for Development Alternative), a well-known policy research and advocacy organisation in Bangladesh and a founding member of Nayakrishi Andolon (New Agricultural Movement), led by Bangladeshi peasants for biodiversity-based ecological agriculture.
SYEDA RIZWANA HASAN
Defender of environment
Being a lawyer, like many, may have been a means to an end for Rizwana; however, the end was not making money. She has always been a believer of people's right to live in a health natural environment. So, she joined the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association in 1993. The reputed non-governmental organisation provided her with the platform to do what has always wanted to do - fight against commodification and exploitation of the environment.
'I have also tried to make use of the court and the law, which are traditionally fearful to the people, to protect the interests of the people and the nature, as I believe the government structures are not service-oriented,' she adds.
She conducted public interest litigation on various environmental issues most of which have received favourable orders from the court. She has fought against vehicular pollution, river pollution, industrial pollution, ship breaking, grabbing of wetlands, cutting of hills, unregulated mining, unplanned urbanization, commercial shrimp cultivation, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and so on.
It is the people's movement that prevented Asia Energy from carrying out open-pit mining at Phulbari coalmine in Dinajpur, although it had the government's endorsement, she says.
Rizwana primarily blames the apathy of the government officials to protecting the nature and wildlife and their attitude towards the nature for unabated anti-environment activities of certain vested quarters, like encroachment of water bodies including rivers and canals, plundering of forests, poaching and cutting hills.
'They [the government] may consider it [ship-breaking] as an industry that provides raw materials for re-rolling mills and creates employment but I see it as a means of exploitation (of labour) and a source of pollution,' Rizwana says.
'How can one consider sea beaches as yard when there is no infrastructure? For ship-breaking you need dry dock with waste management facilities,' she adds.
The outcome of the environment summit in Copenhagen has disappointed Rizwana, and she is critical of the government for its stances at the just-concluded global climate summit, where, according to her, 'Bangladesh has tried to bring some funds.'
Asked how recognitions, local or international, have changed things around, she says, 'Recognition adds to credibility and helps to make friends as well as antagonise many persons…It makes going to many places easier, especially at the policy level and also in the international arena. It also inspires many others to work for the people.'
'We need to change the attitude towards forests, wherever they are. Many consider forest as a commodity. Now it (forest) has become a tool for carbon trading depending on how much money it would be able to earn. In fact, the trees are our soul. They provide all living things with shelter, food, safety, security. They give us a sense of beauty,' she says.
[Attachment(s) from nafrin@yahoo.com included below]
Join Drishtipat DC for a cultural extravaganza on February 21, to celebrate UN International Mother Language Day! Come enjoy an evening of music and colorful dance performances from around the world – traditional Bangladeshi dances, Indian melodies, Native-American songs, music from the Andes, belly dancing, tango and more.
When: Sunday, Feb 21, 2010, 6:00 - 7:30 pm Where: Historic 6th and I Synagogue, 600 I Street NW, Washington DC (near Chinatown metro)
This event is being hosted by Drishtipat DC (http://www.drishtipat.org/dc) along with: - Dhroopad (http://www.dhroopad.org) For more information, check out our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/ |
Attachment(s) from nafrin@yahoo.com
1 of 1 Photo(s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzMFNCo4q7M&NR=1
War Crime in 1971 by Mukti Bahini
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzMFNCo4q7M&NR=1
War Crime by Mukti Bahini
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0hSH5ctyk0&feature=related
It is alleged that Bangladeshi Mukti Bahini killed arround 500,000 Bihari in 1971
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GXNZTXsV2I&feature=related
--- On Tue, 2/16/10, Mamun Mollick <mamunmck@gmail.com> wrote:
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