GM Cotton series

Last night at Allegro’s delicious International Dinner (Indian), I was seated next to a friend (and neighbour) who has been suffering from a bad rash on her hand, and similar rashes and puffiness around the eyes, and also some sinus problems – for over a month now. It seems that after some difficulty, and trying several therapies both alternative and conventional, that she has found a good GP who is giving her helpful salves.

But as she was unwrapping her birthday present, which included a pair of cotton track pants, something jogged in my memory about GM cotton and rashes, which I blurted to my other neighbour at the table, a senior medial professional, who (rightly) regarded my comment as a little bizarre because it was seemingly out of context. When I mentioned how there had been reports of terrible rashes in India due to the proliferation of Monsanto-derived GM cotton crops, and also tens of thousands of suicides, he reasonably asked for a connection between the rashes and the suicides at which point, on further reflection, I confessed that I had no clear memory of the topic and left it at that. However this morning I decided to research this a little on the internet, and a Google search for : “gm cotton rash india” revealed the following article, which contains many other links, some of which I have also pasted in. Not surprisingly, it confirms what I only vaguely remembered, but just to clarify the above paragraph before the reader delves into the longer articles below – should you so choose – the rashes were not causing the suicides, rather the indebtedness of the farmers using GM crops. And although I doubt that my neighour’s rash has anything to do with GM cotton, still it is interesting to note in one of the linked articles entitlded ‘More illnesses linked to Bt crops’:

“Those who had more severe symptoms of the skin tend also to have associated allergies of eyes and respiratory tract. Eye irritation, involving itching, redness, swelling and watery eyes affected 11 of the 23 individuals; 9 had upper respiratory symptoms of watering from the nose and excessive sneezing. Three had mild symptoms, while 10 each had severe and moderate symptoms respectively.”

Very similar to my neighbour’s symptoms in that her most obvious bad rash on on the right hand between thumb and forefinger (around the He Gu LI 4 Master acupuncture point on the Large Intestine meridian which is the brother/mate of the Lung meridian) and skin eruptions are connected with Lung organ in that the skin is the ‘exit’ of the Lungs, but also she has reddened swollen skin around the eyes, mainly on one side, indicated liver / toxin issues in that the eyes are the main sense organs of the liver. And this rash of problems (pun intended) began, if I remember correctly, with sinus issues. Maybe these sorts of symptoms are common with a whole family of allergic or toxic or whatever disorders; not being a doctor I have no idea.

But in any case, I was more or less right in my vague memory about the GM cotton in India, rashes and mass suicides, though it should be noted that there were mass suicides before GM cotton in India, albeit they accelerated.

Of special interest is several reports about how the solution to this is simply going back to organic production: soil heath returns, yields increase, pests decrease, debt is eradicated. Basically, large corporations have succeeded in using junk science to scare people into thinking that they need products and services which they don’t, and for which they pay with lifetimes of servitude to their banker masters (debt). It’s an increasingly common story in all fields.

The main article is the second line below ” Farmer suicides etc.”

GM Cotton Series

gm cotton rash india – Google Search

Farmer Suicides and Bt Cotton Nightmare Unfolding in India

Organic Cotton Beats Bt Cotton in India

More Illnesses Linked to Bt Crops

Deadly gift from Monsanto to India

Return to Organic Cotton & Avoid the Bt-Cotton Trap

GMO alert: top 10 genetically modified foods to avoid eating

Cotton – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Later addition: this article is pro-GM, challenging what it regards as inaccuracies/hyperbole in most of the coverage claiming that GM cotton (and other crops) are harmful etc. http://agbioforum.org/v12n1/v12n1a02-herring.htm