bt brinjal – Ubinig

Coalition Against Bt. Brinjal, Bangladesh

23Apr

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Coalition Against Bt. Brinjal, Bangladesh

Coalition Against Bt. Brinjal, Bangladesdh (Bt Begun Birodhi Morcha) is an alliance of various environmental and social groups and individual scientists, intellectuals, journalists, lawyers and women and health activists. It has been protesting against the approval of Bt. Brinjal in Bangladesh which poses threat to human health, biodiversity, environment and mostl importantly farmers' rights. The Coalition calls upon the government to revoke the approval and take appropriate measure to ensure safety of human health, preserve diversity of local variety brinjals and ensure farmers rights.

Comments on IFPRI Study Report published in a national daily

17Mar

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Btbrinjal & Corporate Politics

Comments on IFPRI Study Report published in a national daily

UBINIG Dhaka Tribune, a Bangladeshi daily, published a report by Reaz Ahmed on IFPRI ‘s Btbrinjal study on March 7th, 2019: “5-yr after releasing its first GM crop Bangladesh says farmers gain by adopting Bt brinjal”. Till now we have not been able to get a copy of the IFPRI report. Nevertheless, until we could put our hand on the full report and make our detail critique, we felt the media report demands some immediate response. Question 1: About the cover picture Dhaka Tribune published a picture with the caption: ‘Farmers busy selling Bt brinjal at a village market’. The picture does not say from which area/village market the shot has been taken. Dhaka Tribune Caption of this imege published with the report: 'Farmers busy selling Bt brinjal at a village m...

India asks about Btbrinjal: what Bangladesh can say?

5Nov

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Btbrinjal & Corporate Politics

India asks about Btbrinjal: what Bangladesh can say?

Farida Akhter SINCE 2014, Bangladesh has been commercially field testing four Btbrinjal varieties. In October 2013, on its last day of the session, the 9th parliament approved the genetically modified eggplants. The timing was strategic — a very agitated political situation prior to the national election was a convenient moment to introduce an inappropriate and unsafe technology. Btbrinjal has hardly any agronomic value but threatens Bangladesh with potential biosafety risks. Btbrinjal is the first GM vegetable crop that got the government approval despite protests from environmental and farmers’ organisations. Mahyco, the Indian counterpart of Monsanto, who gave the technology to Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, has now applied seeking approval for commercial release o...

2May

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Events/News

Monsanto Tribunal Legal Opinion

Nayakrishi Andolon & UBINIG 4 May, 2017 at 10.30 pmNational Press Club, Dhaka Bangladesh Organised by Nayakrishi Andolon and UBINIG A Press Briefing meeting is organised to share the Legal Opinion delivered by Judges of Monsanto Tribunal. The Monsanto Tribunal, an international civil society initiative to hold Monsanto accountable for human rights violations, for crimes against humanity, and for ecocide was held in the Hague, Netherlands during 15 - 16 October, 2016. Eminent judges heard over 30 witnesses, lawyers and experts. In April 2017, the Judges publicly delivered a legal opinion following procedures of the International Court of Justice. A distinct and parallel event, the People's Assembly, was a gathering of social movements from all over the...

21Jan

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GMOs & Genetic Engineerings

Can GM potato save poor farmers?

Farida Akhter After repeated failure of Bt Brinjal another food crop, very common vegetable Potato is genetically modified and waiting for approval for field cultivation. This is Blight Resistant Potato (RB Potato). This is a matter of concern as Bangladesh is being used for easy introduction of GM crops for its weak regulatory authority. Failure of field cultivation of Bt brinjal, the so-called first GM crop in Bangladesh, did not stop Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) from abusing the authority and resources of a public institution. Without clarifying the criticisms against Bt brinjal field trial and questions of bio-safety, BARI is applying for approval of the blight resistant (RB) potato, another GM food crop for commercial release. The National Techni...

21Aug

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Btbrinjal & Corporate Politics

Bt brinjal failed in farmers’ field

Jahangir Alam Jony and M.A. Sobhan Bt Brinjal affected by aphid Brinjal is the most important vegetable in Bangladesh, a common crtop farmers grow for family consumption as well as for the market. Nationally it is grown in about 50,000 hectares of land in two major seasons: winter and summer. However there are varieties that can be grown round the year. However seasonal varieties are culturally preferred. Indigenous nutritional knowledge claims that those fruits and vegetables are best for health if they go by seasons. Bangladesh is a country of wide range of varieties of brinjals. Despite the widespread erosion of genetic dioversioty there are still at least 248 varieties of brinjals. Most of the varieties are resistant to major disease and pests. The major...

Bangladesh NGO report challenges BBC claim of 90% success for Bt brinjal

23Nov

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Btbrinjal & Corporate Politics

Bangladesh NGO report challenges BBC claim of 90% success for Bt brinjal

The narrative of GMO success is unravelling, writes Claire Robinson Recently we published an article about a report by the policy research organization UBINIG, which presented the results of its investigation into the performance of GM Bt insecticidal brinjal (eggplant) in its second year of cultivation in Bangladesh.UBINIG’s report found that officials from the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and the Department of Agriculture nannied the GM brinjal plants through their short and fragile lives, providing farmers with a large arsenal of pesticides to combat the host of pests and diseases that besieged the plants. In many cases the officials even took over management of the crop from the farmers.The report also alleged that failing Bt brinjal plants were replaced by the...

6Nov

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Btbrinjal & Corporate Politics

Bt Brinjal Is Under ‘LIFE SUPPORT’

UBINIG EXPERIENCES OF FARMERS IN SECOND ROUND FIELD CULTIVATION INTRODUCTION This is UBINIG’s report on the second round field cultivation of Btbrinjal, an ongoing monitoring of the unethical promotion of GMOs. There are evidences that in the previous field cultivation, the Btbrinjal promoters completely ignored the scientific precautionary ethics and international protocols and principles with regard to the release of GMOs in the environment, particularly in a biodiverse agro-ecological condition posing serious threat of bio-pollution and health hazards. (Please see ‘Farmers are cheated in Btbrinjal ‘field cultivation’ and other stories at www.ubinig.org) For the second round field cultivation, UBINIG research team has collected information from all the 19 districts that ...

Bt. Brinjal: Forced cultivation and poor performance!

16Mar

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Btbrinjal & Corporate Politics

Bt. Brinjal: Forced cultivation and poor performance!

UBINIG Bangladesh is one of the unfortunate countries in Asia, where GM food crops are being forced for introduction without properly following the precautionery principle to protect biological environment and health and proper rules as laid down by international obligations and domestic bindings, particularly related to Biosafety. Genetically modified Bt. Brinjal is one such crop which is a very common vegetable across class, culture and geographical location, and also known to be in the centre of origin, yet the government has approved it for field cultivation in October, 2013 through the national gene bank run by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI). Despite concerns raised by various farmers groups and environmental groups, the first trial of Bt. Brinjal started in...

Protest Against US Ambassador Promoting Bt. Brinjal in Bangladesh

21Dec

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Btbrinjal & Corporate Politics

Protest Against US Ambassador Promoting Bt. Brinjal in Bangladesh

Farida Akhter Outgoing US Ambassador to Bangladesh recently wrote an article in Dhaka Courier uncritically promoting genetically modified Bt Brinjal in a country considered belonging to the bioregion where global wealth of biodiversity originated. He often expresses his love for Bangladesh, and we, as a humble nation, never failed to acknowledge his feelings. Nevertheless, his article stands absolutely contrary to the prem (love) he often likes to explicitly project. ( See 'From Iowa to Bangladesh, technology shaping the future of agriculture'.Mr. Dan Mozena must be intelligent enough to realize that promoting GMOs has all the potential hazards to destroy our agriculture and the food systyem; It may irreversibly jeopardize the livelihood of the farming communities. ...