Burkina Faso, Friday 29 September 2006 “On Tuesday this week Mr Salif Diallo, Minister of Agriculture, Water and Fisheries, paid a visit to the SOFITEX cotton farm in Boni, near Houndé, in the province of Tuy. He was informed of the advantages that genetically modified cotton could bring. At the end of his visit, Mr Diallo had dismissed his reticence about the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in cotton farming in Burkina. In an interview with a group of journalists, he already speculated about the added value the cotton sector could generate and the competitive edge that GM cotton could bring to the national cotton trade. He proudly announced that cotton farmers were going to launch Bt cotton already in 2007. “We even have our seed stocks” he declared.” (Quote from daily paper LE PAYS). His optimism is in contrast with reports now coming in from India, where farmers have been trying out Bt cotton for several years. Over there, thousands of Bt Cotton farmers have already committed suicide, because of their inability to pay their debts. (RFI, French International Radio, discussed this in a broadcast a few days ago). In addition it is reported that animals are also being killed by the thousands (See below). India : Thousands of sheep poisoned by GM Cotton Recent studies of genetically modified cotton have caused new concern about its safety, both in the food chain and in clothing. In India, in the District of Warangal, (Andra Pradesh) a preliminary report published at the end of April, gave evidence of thousands of deaths among sheep grazing on land where GM cotton had been harvested. Sheep and goats started dying within seven days of grazing on cotton pods and tender leaves of BT cotton (Bacillus thuringiensis), which remained in the fields after the picking season. An investigation was carried out by a research team of five members: Dr Ramesh, veterinary scientist, and Mr Apparao, field researcher, both from the non governmental organisation ANTHRA, working with livestock issues; Mr Jamalaiah, Secretary of the shepherd’s union of Andhra Pradesh; Mr Ramprasad and Mr G. Rajashekar from the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture working on Bt cotton issues. The main symptoms reported by the shepherds were: 1. Sheep downcast and depressed after 2-3 days of grazing 2. Cough, nasal discharge 3. Reddish, abrasive lesions of the mouth 4. Swelling 5. Black stained diarrhoea 6. Red spotted urine 7. Death after 5-7 days of grazing on Bt cotton fields In the village of Ippaguedem, Ghanapur mandal, out of a total of 2601 sheep owned by 42 different herdsmen, 651 sheep deaths occurred, a crude mortality rate of 25%. Similar rates were observed in the village of Valeru, and a slightly lower rate (22%) in Unkkucherla, both in the Dharmasagaram mandal. When contacted by the Inf’OGM, one of the authors of the report explained that the last pesticide spraying of the fields had taken place one month before the cotton was picked and that farmers had not been using Bt pesticides in the previous years. The only novelty in the fields was the introduction of Bt cotton. In December 2005 another study reported serious skin reactions, such as irritation, blisters and discolouring, persisting five months after exposure. The British Medical Association had already acknowledged that GMOs could be associated with other risks, i.e. resistance to pharmaceutical treatment of STDs (sexually transmitted disease), following the use of personal hygiene products containing Bt cotton among women patients. GMOs may also kill humans, driven to despair. Bt cotton farming in India has now been stopped temporarily, following a series of suicides among farmers who had run up heavy debts in order to pay for the very expensive Bt cotton seed. This has lead the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) in India to admit that after three years of trials with Bt cotton from Mahyco-Monsanto - Mech-184 Bt, Mech 162 Bt and Mech 12-Bt- these varieties have been a failure. A comparison of the financial outcome (in Rupees) of Bt cotton and non-Bt cotton for shepherd farmers amounts to the following: Per acre Bt cotton Non-Bt cotton _________________________________________________________ Investment 9 000 Rupees 5 000 Rupees Harvest 10 quintals* x 1 800 8 quintals x 1 800
= 18 000 = 14 400 Profit 9 000 Rupees 9 500 Rupees _________________________________________________________ * 1 Quintal= appr. a hundrethweight, 100 KG (Translator’s note) Sources: http://www.hns-info.net/article.php3?id_article=9217 - GE Free NZ,9May 2006 - GMWatch April 2006 We would feel more confident about the future of cotton in Burkina Faso, if someone had told us that the Burkina Government had dispatched its Minister of Agriculture to India, to inquire among people working in the Indian cotton sector before officially launching Bt Cotton in Burkina. Is not our most pressing need to await the results of such a mission to India? Koudougou, 4 October 2006
Maurice Oudet
Director, SEDELAN PS Since drafting this bulletin, a number of reactions have been published in the press on the spread of Bt cotton in Burkina, under the following headings (in French only): Coton transgénique: CV/OGM se dit prêt à intenter un procès contre Salif Diallo (CV/OGM to take legal action against Salif Diallo) Production du coton OGM: “Ne jouons pas à la roulette russe avec notre agriculture” (Do not play Russian roulette with our agriculture) | 
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