Dear Mr Prime Minister,
Your Government is wasting millions of Rupees of our public money on inefficient, useless, but hazardous experiments like the GMO Banana.
Ignoring the many existing alternatives our indigenous biodiversity and knowledge offers to address the public health emergency of iron deficiency, India’s Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) has signed an agreement with Queensland University to provide AUD$1.4 million (US$1.44 million) and INR80 million (US$1.43 million) towards the cost of the Indian component to increase the iron content in banana through genetic engineering.
Dr Dale of Queensland University who will receive this generosity from your government ,and has already received $15 million from the Gates Foundation,does not have a single paper related to iron fortification of bananas . This work has been done by the Bhabha Atomic Research Team. Why is our tax money being wasted on this project?
Bananas are rich in nutrition but have only 0.44mg of iron per 100 grams of edible portion. All the effort to increase iron content of bananas will fall short the iron content of our indigenous biodiversity. According to the BARC scientists, they can achieve a 6 fold increase in iron content in GMO bananas.This makes it 2.6mg, which is 3000% less than iron in turmeric, or niger ,or lotus stem, 2000% less than Amchur (mango powder). The safe ,biodiverse alternatives are multifold.
GMO banana booklet
No GMO Banana Republic - Stop Banana Biopiracy
An Open Letter to QUT's Dr James Dale, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Dear Dr Dale, QUT, Gates Foundation and CBD Delegates,
The Gates Foundation has invested 15 million dollars in Dr James Dale's GMO so-called 'super-bananas' developed at QUT. The project is being touted as philanthropy with a humanitarian purpose in combating micronutrient deficiency. The GMO bananas, grown in Australia, are currently in Iowa in the US undergoing what Scientific American calls Market Trials – that is, trials that have been designed for marketing purposes, rather than thorough clinical trials. While the Market Trials are gaining considerable media attention for the project, it is not at all clear that the GMO banana project is truly a charitable exercise. It is however a clear case of biopiracy.
Fe'i bananas (Musa troglodytarum L.) are a traditional food across the Asia-Pacific, found in an area ranging from Maluku in Indonesai to Tahiti and Hawaii in the Pacific. In 1788, Daniel Solander, accompanying botanist Joseph Banks and James Cook on the voyage of the Endeavour, noted several varieties of Fe'i bananas used in Tahiti. Artist Paul Gauguin's paintings Le Repas (The Meal), La Orana Maria (The Virgin Mary) and Tahitian Landscape, painted in 1891, depict these red-orange bananas. In Indonesia they are known as pisang tongkat langit (sky cane bananas) because of the distinctive upright fruiting stem.
Banana Biopiracy, Charlie at Bhoomi
Why is Bill Gates backing GMO red banana 'biopiracy'?
The Gates Foundation has sunk $15 million into developing GMO 'super bananas' with high levels of pre-Vitamin A, writes Adam Breasley. But the project is using 'stolen' genes from a Micronesian banana cultivar. And what exactly is the point, when delicious, popular, nutritious 'red bananas' rich in caroteinoids are already grown around the tropics?
Among the controversial projects funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the development and testing of a biofortified GMO banana developed to boost its iron, Vitamin E and pro-Vitamin A content.
ISU researcher to test altered bananas
A dozen Iowa State University students will soon get the chance to earn $900 by eating the equivalent of three bananas each.
There's a catch: One of the bananas will include a gene that scientists inserted to help people make vitamin A.
Such studies can be controversial, because natural-food proponents have raised doubts about the safety of genetically modified fruits, vegetables and meats.
ISU researchers are among the legions of scientists who say such foods are safe, but they kept details of the banana study under wraps. They relented this week after the Register raised the likelihood that by refusing to disclose their intentions, the researchers could fuel speculation that they were up to something hinky.
Wendy White, a food science professor leading the study, said the goal of the research is to help people in Africa increase their production of vitamin A.
"In Uganda and other African countries, vitamin A deficiency is a major contributor to deaths in childhood from infectious diseases," White wrote in a statement released by the university. "Wouldn't it be great if these bananas could prevent preschool kids from dying from diarrhea, malaria or measles?"
GMO-Bananas are Going Into Human Trials – Why This Won’t End Well
am not sure why it is but so many people, myself included, have an incredibly strong emotional attachment to bananas.
This love for bananas extends to all parts of the world, and I saw this first-hand when I visited a banana plantation in Costa Rica. In fact, people who dedicate their life’s work to bananas are affectionately called bananeros.
So, when I heard the news that the world’s richest man and noted GMO-advocate, Bill Gates, is funding a human trial of genetically-modified bananas, I got absolutely sick to my stomach.
James Dale, Director of the Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities at Queensland University of Technology in Australia, announced that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had donated close to $10M to finance this project and that human trials would take place over a six-week period in the U.S.
US Human Trials of GM Banana for Africa Widely Condemned
The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is a Pan African platform comprising civil society networks and farmer organisations working towards food sovereignty in Africa has submitted an Open Letter to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Wendy White from Iowa State University and the Human Institutional Review Board of Iowa State University expressing fierce opposition to the human feeding trials taking place at Iowa State University involving genetically modified (GM) bananas.
The Open Letter is supported by more than 120 organizations from around the world. Farmers, advocates, consumers and other communities from the United States are represented, including the US Food Sovereignty Alliance (USFSA), FoodFirst, AGRA Watch/Community Alliance for Global Justice and La Via Campesina North America, as well as many from Africa, Europe, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Asia and Australia. Dr. Vandana Shiva, Dr. Jeanne Koopman, Dr. Eva Navotny and Professor Joseph Cummins are among the prominent scientists and academics also supporting the Open Letter.
