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New hype out of old Monsanto bottles in India (23/2/2006)

1.NEW HYPE OUT OF OLD MONSANTO BOTTLES IN INDIA
2.'GM crops up farmers' income'
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1.NEW HYPE OUT OF OLD BOTTLES IN INDIA

Bt cotton in India has had an appalling press of late with scores of articles reporting everything from failed germination to disappointing yields, from disease outbreaks to farmer suicides, from allergic reactions amongst farmers and livestock to parliamentary walk outs in protest at the attempted political cover up on behalf of Monsanto & co.

But then suddenly in the last few days there's been a very different crop of headlines:
India : Biotech cotton enhances farm income
Fibre2fashion.com, India
Biotech cotton raises farm income by Rs 558 cr
Economic Times, India
'GM crops up farmers' income'
Financial Express, India
Bt cotton helps India increase farm income
Checkbiotech.org

These headlines all relate, as one of the articles notes, to "A study conducted by UK-based PG Economics" which "has claimed that farmers' income has increased by $124.2 million (Rs 558 crore) on cumulative basis in India with the adoption of insect-resistant Bt cotton."

This claim is, of course, contradicted by other studies, as Ashok B. Sharma in the Finacial Express notes in a characteristically objective article (item 2).

Sharma also identifies the PG Economics study that is the basis of the current claims about Indian Bt cotton production. It's "GM Crops: The Global Socio-economic and Environmental Impact & The First Nine Years 1996-2004".

What's interesting about this is that although this report is being used to hype GM crops in India at the moment, it was actually released back in October 2005, as can be seen from the PG Economics home page: http://www.pgeconomics.co.uk/

It also appears from the current spate of articles that whoever is hyping around this report from last year is failing to point out that the report was commissioned by Monsanto! The report also proved controversial on publication as have other of the pro-GM reports regularly commissioned by the biotech industry from PG Economics.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=308

As GM Watch noted at the time that this report was first published, "The science in the new report is somewhat less than impressive. It's not even clear where half of their figures come from. Most of the references are presentations at biotech conferences and unpublished articles and very few appear to have been peer reviewed. Some of the cited papers are from PG Economics Ltd itself (whose biotech reports are mostly funded by the biotech industry), the National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy (described by an article in Science as 'a pro-GM industry group'), ISAAA (industry funded), etc."

And that's not the half of it - see:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5825
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2.'GM crops up farmers' income'
Asok B. Sharma, Feb 23 2006
Financial Express, India
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=118451

NEW DELHI, FEB 22: - A study conducted by UK-based PG Economics has claimed that farmers’ income has increased by $124.2 million (Rs 558 crore) on cumulative basis in India with the adoption of insect-resistant Bt cotton.

The authors of the study, Graham Brookes and Peter Barfoot claimed, "The main impact of using GM insect resistant cotton (Bt cotton) has been major increases in yield. With respect to cost of production, the average cost of the technology (about $54/ha) has been greater than the average insecticide cost savings of $38/ha to $42/ha, resulting in a net increase in cost of production. However, the yield gains have resulted in important net gains to levels of profitability of $139/ha, $324/ha and $171/ha, respectively in 2002, 2003 and 2004. At the national level, these farm income gains amounted to $6.1 million in 2002, $32.4 million in 2003 and $85.7 million in 2004 (cumulative total of $124.2 million)."

However, contrary to PG Economics study, there are evidences of farmers placed in heavy losses on account of growing Bt cotton. A network of over 20 NGOs and farmers' organisations has documented such case studies. Some farmers have also claimed compensation for failure of Mech 12, Mech 184 and Mech 162 varieties of Bt cotton. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) had to ban all these three varieties in Andhra Pradesh with effect from 2005 season. Mech 12 is banned in entire South India. According to some reports the use of pesticides, fertilisers and water has also increased.

The PG Economics study called 'GM Crops: The Global Socio-economic and Environmental Impact & The First Nine Years 1996-2004\, has claimed that after almost a decade of commercialisation, biotech crops have made a significant impact on the global economy and environment, decreasing the reliance on pesticides and reducing the environmental footprint associated with pesticide use by 14%.

The study claimed that biotech crops have helped in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from farm practices.

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