http://btbrinjal.tumblr.com/post/82090416816/anti-gmo-activists-in-bangladesh-tell-lies-to-farmers
Anti-GMO activists in Bangladesh tell lies to farmers and the media
8 April 2014 - On 7 April the Financial Express in Bangladesh published a news article entitled
‘Pest-resistant Bt Brinjal comes under pest attack’, claiming that farmers who are now cultivating
insect-resistant genetically-modified brinjal (eggplant) were being forced to spray more pesticides
than usual because of severe pest attack. The allegation was clear - that Bt technology has failed,
and that farmers are already losing out.
The article mentions the farmer Haidul Islam, in Sripur Upazila under Gazipur district, stating:
"Visiting his brinjal field on Tuesday, the FE correspondent found 25-30 per cent of the plants
dead and the rest were struggling for survival."
The Financial Express journalist, Yasir Wardad, then quoted Haidul Islam as saying: “Agriculture
officials told me that I am one of the 20 fortunate farmers who got Bt seeds. It will reduce cost
for pesticide. But the reality is pests have attacked my plants severely. Last year I grew local
varieties and made profit. This year Allah knows what will happen to me.”
The article goes on to quote unnamed “experts” as expressing “their grave concern that GMO brinjal
would affect biodiversity and could cause severe health hazards to humans, other animals and
plants”, and implies that Bt brinjal was developed at the behest of the “multinational seed giant
Monsanto”.
In reality, Bt brinjal is a joint public-sector project between the government-run Bangladesh
Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and scientists at Cornell University, with funding from
USAID. Hearing the allegations by the Financial Express, BARI’s director of research Khaled Sultan
and other project officials immediately travelled to visit the farmer whose Bt brinjal plants were
alleged to be dying. What they found is very different from the allegations put out in the media.
The BARI delegation reports that the Bt brinjal crop in farmer Haidul Islam’s field is currently
“healthy and infestation-free”. The project team also spoke to the supposedly distressed farmer
Haidul Islam, who revealed that the story began when two young men visited his farm and told him
that he was growing a “poisonous” crop on his vegetable patch which would be bad for the health of
him and his family. The two men did not reveal their identities, and moreover wore black cloth
masks on their faces for the duration of their visit.
The two men, who were likely anti-GMO activists visiting from Dhaka, then tried to coerce Haidul
Islam into saying that his crop had failed, informing him that he would be a “happy man” if he made
a video statement (they had brought a camera for the purpose) saying that his crop was infested
with pests and he felt cheated. Whether the intent was bribery or threatening physical coercion is
not clear, but either way Haidul Islam refused to make the statement demanded of him as he felt
there was nothing wrong with his crop.
It is not clear either whether the ‘journalist’ Yasir Wardad bylined on the Financial Express piece
ever visited the location, or whether the whole article in its entirety was simply planted by anti-
GMO activists. However it does seem clear that Haidul Islam’s quotes were fabricated, and that the
failure of his Bt brinjal crop was also invented by anti-GMO activists aiming to demonize the
technology.
The Bt brinjal project team who visited the site were initially concerned that there might have
been some failure of the technology and proceeded to test over 200 individual plants for the
expression of the Cry1Ac protein that protects brinjal against a specific pest - the fruit and
shoot borer. All plants tested positive for the protein, indicating that Bt brinjal should be
working as intended. Although other insects, especially sucking pests, are not controlled by Bt
technology, there was no indication of any pest infestation.
There were signs of probable bacterial wilt on a small number of plants, however, a common problem
encountered by farmers in the region when soils have a high moisture content during times of heavy
rainfall. This is currently being investigated. The project team also ascertained that the seeds
were sown as required for brinjal and that a mandatory border refuge of non-Bt brinjal for
resistance management had also been planted and was being well maintained.
Commenting on the Financial Express article, Professor Ronnie Coffman, director of International
Programs at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, said: “This article
is an intolerable misrepresentation of the facts that is harmful to the hardworking farmers of
Bangladesh. Fortunately, farmers are smart, practical people who understand the promise and
potential of Bt brinjal and I fully expect they will prevail.”
Bt brinjal is aimed at dramatically reducing pesticide use in Bangladeshi brinjal farming by
protecting against the most damaging pest, fruit and shoot borer. Recently, the Bangladeshi
Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury suggested that anti-GMO groups might be receiving money from
pesticides companies who are worried about losing their markets if Bt brinjal is successful.
Referring to the claim in the article that Bt brinjal would cause “severe health hazards to humans”
and “biodiversity”, Anthony Shelton, professor of entomology and a world expert on Bt plants who is
now in Bangladesh, said he was “appalled by the misinformation in the Financial Express piece”. He
continued: “There is not one shred of credible evidence that Bt plants harm humans or biodiversity.
In fact, just the opposite is true - growing Bt brinjal is far safer than the traditional method
because of reductions in pesticide use.”
Original Financial Express article: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2014/04/07/27497
Anti-GMO activists in Bangladesh tell lies to farmers and the media
8 April 2014 - On 7 April the Financial Express in Bangladesh published a news article entitled
‘Pest-resistant Bt Brinjal comes under pest attack’, claiming that farmers who are now cultivating
insect-resistant genetically-modified brinjal (eggplant) were being forced to spray more pesticides
than usual because of severe pest attack. The allegation was clear - that Bt technology has failed,
and that farmers are already losing out.
The article mentions the farmer Haidul Islam, in Sripur Upazila under Gazipur district, stating:
"Visiting his brinjal field on Tuesday, the FE correspondent found 25-30 per cent of the plants
dead and the rest were struggling for survival."
The Financial Express journalist, Yasir Wardad, then quoted Haidul Islam as saying: “Agriculture
officials told me that I am one of the 20 fortunate farmers who got Bt seeds. It will reduce cost
for pesticide. But the reality is pests have attacked my plants severely. Last year I grew local
varieties and made profit. This year Allah knows what will happen to me.”
The article goes on to quote unnamed “experts” as expressing “their grave concern that GMO brinjal
would affect biodiversity and could cause severe health hazards to humans, other animals and
plants”, and implies that Bt brinjal was developed at the behest of the “multinational seed giant
Monsanto”.
In reality, Bt brinjal is a joint public-sector project between the government-run Bangladesh
Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and scientists at Cornell University, with funding from
USAID. Hearing the allegations by the Financial Express, BARI’s director of research Khaled Sultan
and other project officials immediately travelled to visit the farmer whose Bt brinjal plants were
alleged to be dying. What they found is very different from the allegations put out in the media.
The BARI delegation reports that the Bt brinjal crop in farmer Haidul Islam’s field is currently
“healthy and infestation-free”. The project team also spoke to the supposedly distressed farmer
Haidul Islam, who revealed that the story began when two young men visited his farm and told him
that he was growing a “poisonous” crop on his vegetable patch which would be bad for the health of
him and his family. The two men did not reveal their identities, and moreover wore black cloth
masks on their faces for the duration of their visit.
The two men, who were likely anti-GMO activists visiting from Dhaka, then tried to coerce Haidul
Islam into saying that his crop had failed, informing him that he would be a “happy man” if he made
a video statement (they had brought a camera for the purpose) saying that his crop was infested
with pests and he felt cheated. Whether the intent was bribery or threatening physical coercion is
not clear, but either way Haidul Islam refused to make the statement demanded of him as he felt
there was nothing wrong with his crop.
It is not clear either whether the ‘journalist’ Yasir Wardad bylined on the Financial Express piece
ever visited the location, or whether the whole article in its entirety was simply planted by anti-
GMO activists. However it does seem clear that Haidul Islam’s quotes were fabricated, and that the
failure of his Bt brinjal crop was also invented by anti-GMO activists aiming to demonize the
technology.
The Bt brinjal project team who visited the site were initially concerned that there might have
been some failure of the technology and proceeded to test over 200 individual plants for the
expression of the Cry1Ac protein that protects brinjal against a specific pest - the fruit and
shoot borer. All plants tested positive for the protein, indicating that Bt brinjal should be
working as intended. Although other insects, especially sucking pests, are not controlled by Bt
technology, there was no indication of any pest infestation.
There were signs of probable bacterial wilt on a small number of plants, however, a common problem
encountered by farmers in the region when soils have a high moisture content during times of heavy
rainfall. This is currently being investigated. The project team also ascertained that the seeds
were sown as required for brinjal and that a mandatory border refuge of non-Bt brinjal for
resistance management had also been planted and was being well maintained.
Commenting on the Financial Express article, Professor Ronnie Coffman, director of International
Programs at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, said: “This article
is an intolerable misrepresentation of the facts that is harmful to the hardworking farmers of
Bangladesh. Fortunately, farmers are smart, practical people who understand the promise and
potential of Bt brinjal and I fully expect they will prevail.”
Bt brinjal is aimed at dramatically reducing pesticide use in Bangladeshi brinjal farming by
protecting against the most damaging pest, fruit and shoot borer. Recently, the Bangladeshi
Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury suggested that anti-GMO groups might be receiving money from
pesticides companies who are worried about losing their markets if Bt brinjal is successful.
Referring to the claim in the article that Bt brinjal would cause “severe health hazards to humans”
and “biodiversity”, Anthony Shelton, professor of entomology and a world expert on Bt plants who is
now in Bangladesh, said he was “appalled by the misinformation in the Financial Express piece”. He
continued: “There is not one shred of credible evidence that Bt plants harm humans or biodiversity.
In fact, just the opposite is true - growing Bt brinjal is far safer than the traditional method
because of reductions in pesticide use.”
Original Financial Express article: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2014/04/07/27497