GM crops cause disaster in India

Once again, Dr. Mercola wrote a great article explaining how GM crops have led to the suicides of many Indian farmers--such important information now that the Gates foundation is funding GM seeds for poor farmers worldwide....here is clip from Mercola's article.  Mercola has a GREAT free newsletter, which really provides wonderful information on holistic health at www.Mercola.com.

"According to a publication from the New York University School of Lawⁱ, in 2009 alone (the most recent year for which official figures are available) 17,638 Indian farmers committed suicide—that's one farmer every 30 minutes.

Bt Cotton is a Debt Trap

Bt cotton requires more pesticide sprayings than indigenous cotton—MANY times more. Bt cotton has created new resistant pests, and to control these, farmers must use 13 times more pesticides than they were using prior to its introduction. Rates of infestation by aphids, thrips, jassids, and other pests have risen since Bt cotton's introduction.

Meanwhile, yields for Bt cotton are disappointingly low. Monsanto claims Bt cotton will yield 1500 kg per year, but farmers have gotten only 300 to 400 kg per year, average. High costs and unreliable output make GM cotton a debt trap. According to Voltairenet.org:

'When Monsanto first introduced Bt cotton in 2002, the farmers lost one billion rupees due to crop failure. Instead of 1,500 kilos per acre as promised by the company, the harvest was as low as 200 kilos per acre. Instead of incomes of 10,000 rupees an acre, farmers ran into losses of 6,400 rupees an acre… Poor peasants of the South cannot survive seed monopolies. The crisis of suicides shows how the survival of small farmers is incompatible with the seed monopolies of global corporations.' 

      [Mercola then continues to explain]

1. Compared to traditional seed, genetically engineered seeds are very expensive and have to be repurchased every planting season
2. Genetically engineered crops require much more water to grow, have much higher requirements for fertilizer and pesticide, in spite of Monsanto's claims to the contrary and, in spite of their cost to farmers, provide NO increased yield..."

Right now there is a movement to label GM foods in the U.S.  GM crops are banned in many other countries, and in prior posts I have explained their dangers to health as well an article on World Food that talks about their dangers to poor farmers around the world.

A Votre Sante (Here's to Your Health), Alix