permaculture

[<fdnokes@hotmail.com>]

I thought this good news was worth sharing...

frances


From: Lucy Sharratt - CBAN Coordinator 
Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2010 3:26 PM
To: cban-e-news@cban.ca 
Subject: [cban e-News] Monsanto Admits Bt Cotton has Failed: India


 "For the first time anywhere in the world, biotech agriculture giant 
Monsanto has admitted that insects have developed resistance to its Bt cotton 
crop."   
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/03/06/stories/2010030658401400.htm
This news also validates the widespread opposition that led the Indian 
Government to decide not to approve Bt eggplant.
This news could also put into further question the recent cuts in refuge 
requirements from 20% to 5% for Monsanto's 8-trait GM SmartStax corn 
http://www.cban.ca/corn


Bt cotton has failed admits Monsanto 
Dinesh C. Sharma 
New Delhi, March 6, 2010 
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/86939/India/Bt+cotton+has+failed+admits
 
The ongoing debate on biotechnology crops in India took a new turn on Friday 
when American seed firm Monsanto disclosed that cotton pest--pink 
bollworm--has developed resistance to its much-touted Bt cotton variety in 
Gujarat.

The company has reported to the regulator, the Genetic Engineering Approval 
Committee (GEAC), that pink bollworm has developed resistance to its 
genetically modified (GM) cotton variety, Bollgard I, in Amreli, Bhavnagar, 
Junagarh and Rajkot districts in Gujarat.

This was detected by the company during field monitoring in the 2009 cotton 
season.

The Bt cotton variety in question was developed using a gene--Cry1AC--derived 
from soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. It was supposed to be resistant 
to pest attacks. But, of late, the pest has developed resistance to the gene.

The same gene has been used in Bt brinjal to make it resistant to pests. 
Bollgard cotton was cited as a great success of GM technology by Union 
science minister Prithviraj Chavan in his July 2009 letter to former health 
minister A. Ramadoss.

"Resistance is natural and expected," Monsanto said in a statement. The 
company blamed pink bollworm resistance to Cry1Ac protein in Gujarat to 
"early use of unapproved Bt cotton seeds" by farmers and "limited refuge 
planting". Farmers are supposed to maintain a distance between Bt cotton 
farms and other farms as a "refuge". It also advised farmers to take up 
"need-based application of insecticide sprays" and "properly manage crop 
residue and unopened bolls after harvest". A second generation variety, 
Bollgard II, introduced by Monsanto in 2006, contains two proteins, Cry1Ac 
and Cry2Ab.

The company says no resistance has been observed in the variety anywhere in 
the country, including Gujarat.

The revelation has not surprised environment action groups. "This is the 
pattern Monsanto has been following everywhere. Once Bollgard 1 fails, they 
start pushing Bollgard 2 and tell farmers to apply more pesticides. This is a 
vicious circle that Indian cotton farmers have got into," Devinder Sharma of 
Forum for Biotechnology and Food Safety said.

"There is a lesson here for Bt brinjal because the arguments in favour of the 
crop are same as those given for Bollgard cotton," Kavita Kuruganti of Kheti 
Virasat said.

In a report submitted to environment minister Jairam Ramesh, K.R. Kranthi of 
the Central Institute for Cotton Research had cautioned about the likely 
failure of Bt cotton. "Farmers are not following the recommended 'refugia'. 
With about 90 per cent area under Bt cotton, bollworms can develop resistance 
soon. The concern needs to be addressed on priority before it is too late," 
the report says.

Not only has Bt cotton been rendered ineffective, it has also led to 
detection of some new pests never before reported from India. It is toxic 
only to bollworm and does not control any other pests of cotton. "New sucking 
pests have emerged as major pests causing significant economic losses", the 
report says.

At the same time, productivity of cotton has fallen from 560 kg lint per 
hectare in 2007 to 512 kg lint per hectare in 2009.

And pesticide expenditure has gone up from from Rs 597 crore in 2002 to Rs 
791 crore in 2009.


Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator  
Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) 
Collaborative Campaigning for Food Sovereignty and Environmental Justice 
431 Gilmour Street, Second Floor 
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2P 0R5 
Phone: 613 241 2267 ext.6
Fax: 613 241 2506 
coordinator@cban.ca 
www.cban.ca


Support Bill C-474, Support Canada's Farmers! 
Write to your MP instantly from http://www.cban.ca/474action
Take action before March 17, 2010.


































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>From grifenhope@gmail.com  Wed Mar 10 12:34:30 2010
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From: "Grifen" <grifenhope@gmail.com>
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Subject: Re: [permaculture] [PC-Relief-Haiti] Compost Toilets in Haiti for
        Chile
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Thanks everyone. Here is a compilation of responses. Grifen

Cory Brennan in Haiti 10 Marzo 2010 ´´They are using whatever methods are
suitable for each area where they are working. You can build them
practically any way you want to, if the principles are there - keep the
feces isolated so they don't contaminate water supply, etc (urine is ok to
use as fertilizer once diluted 10-1); make sure the temperature of the
compost is high enough to kill the pathogens; ensure some "brown" organic
material is mixed in with the solid material.´´

John Calvert 10 Marzo 2010 ´´I would just add that a low-cost composting
toilet is typically either a bucket-dump type or plant-a-tree type. Bucket
type works very well and is appropriate for urban or rural areas where there
is the opportunity to make a compost pile to receive humanure & urine and
other organic material (this must of course be done properly, then the
result is excellent garden fertilizer).  The bucket is housed in a
containing box (for example made out of plywood) with a hole cut in the top
and normal toilet seat and lid.  The box top itself is a hinged lid, for
removal of the bucket when full.  Sawdust or other dry organic material is
thrown in the bucket after each use – sawdust works very well, but fine leaf
duff also works.  The toilet seat can be constructed inside an outhouse. A
variation is to have a two-holer, one for humanure, the other for urine.
Urine mixed with water is immediately usable as fertilizer for some types of
plants. For rural areas, the plant-a-tree type toilet can be used, and there
are variants of this.  The most common and private is the portable outhouse
type, in which a hole is dug and the outhouse placed over it, and then when
full the outhouse is moved and the hole filled.  Later a tree is planted in
the hole.´´

Sanitation and Cleanliness for a clean environment

http://www.hesperian.info/assets/environmental/EHB_Sanitation_EN_lowres.pdf

SOIL – article on Haiti response 
http://oursoil.org/what/resources#compost
They are the premiere examples of this in Haiti
http://oursoil.org
There's a book that's published by the Stockholm Environmental Institute,
entitled, Ecological Sanitation.  Check the link,
http://sei-international.org/?p=publications
<http://sei-international.org/?p=publications&task=view&pid=600>
&task=view&pid=600
Humanure 
http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html.  

Here are a few links that may help:

http://www.permaculture.org.au/resources/pdc_info/Low-Cost_Compost_Toilets.p
df

A urine-diverting toilet for good measure:

http://www.esrla.com/pdf/toilet.pdf

Composting privy

http://www.cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/VITA/COMPPRIV/EN/COMPPRIV.HTM

 

De: John Calvert [mailto:editor2@permaculturerelief.org] 
Enviado el: Tuesday, 9 March 2010 11:53 p.m.
Para: Grifen
Asunto: Re: [PC-Relief-Haiti] Compost Toilets in Haiti

 


Hi, Grifen,

Yes, I second the motion on SOIL.

I think you can reach the co-founder, Sasha Kramer at sashakramer@gmail.com.

"Sasha Kramer, Ph.D. is an ecologist and human rights advocate and
co-founder of Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL). She is an
Adjunct Professor of International Studies at the University of Miami."

JC

-- 

 

John Calvert 

Facilitator, PermacultureRelief.org

 

website:  <http://www.permaculturerelief.org/> www.PermacultureRelief.org 

email:  <mailto:editor2@permaculturerelief.org>
editor2@permaculturerelief.org




Smith Mill Creek wrote: 

Hi-
You will want to contact
SOIL
http://oursoil.org/what/resources#compost
 
They are the premiere examples of this in Haiti, as far as I know
(which isn't much). check out the video on their front page
http://oursoil.org
 
Best,
Jim Barton
West Asheville, NC  28816
http://twitter.com/Earthsummit2012 (unofficial)
*******************
 
 
Grifen wrote:
  

Hola amigos, we have been contacted by some people in the know in the 
earthquake reconstruction process asking for advice. They are 
desperate for dry toilet solutions. Does anyone have detail of low 
cost, simple, rapid and temporary composting toilets. Is there any 
good examples coming from Haiti? Can you help? Gracias, Grifen  
 
*Grifen Hope*
 
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