ladies and gentlemen I must confess that
I am not really a doctor but I’m going
to do a bit of doctoring during the
speech because the subject that I’ve
been given is how genetically modified
crops are affecting the environment the
kind of hazards that are being created
it almost feels like I’m back to school
or maybe first year college and in those
days where ever one had to really talk
about a proposition one was told by very
famous debater called
mr. xu dong shoo – Gupta a great friend
of my own father professor Ann
Vishwanathan that in Grecian times in
Hellenic times there was a system when a
bill was to be proposed the speaker was
placed on a platform and a rope would be
placed around his neck if he succeeded
in convincing the audience and the bill
was passed the Rope would be removed if
not the platform would be removed I find
myself in much the same situation
because the subject is so difficult we
are living in a world where scientific
progress cannot be denied I myself
belong to a background in mathematics
and therefore I give the highest value
to science scientific progress and
research however it is very important to
realize that small is beautiful doing
more does not necessarily mean doing
good and the old average the old
American adage that if it is working
then don’t fix it is not quite correct
now let’s look at
genetically modified crops now what is a
genetically modified crop it’s a kind of
crop where genes are transferred
artificially from one organism to
another and this could be from the same
species or from the same genus the
different kinds of varieties of this
modification or genetic engineering it
is my proposition today to say that on
the whole on the whole meaning there
could be pluses and minuses genetically
modified crops are a hazard to the
environment know why I’ll quickly give
you what I’ve researched firstly they
are unhealthy and studies research
sampling has proved that they could
cause they could cause on unhealthy
situations where you become infertile
and it could also cause gastrointestinal
disorders second they contaminate
permanently you know because once you
transfer the genes is not possible to
wash it down with water the footprint is
laid they contaminate permanently
they have several side effects and these
side effects are again permanent you
can’t get rid of them because these
genitive eclis modified crops are
resistant to pests you will find that
the pesticides don’t affect the crops
that is the you know proposition so the
use of pesticides increases which is not
a good thing the government has been
strangely lacks in its laws they are
resistant to labeling so that there’s a
mystery attached to these genetically
modified crops
and even those scientists who working in
this area not entirely sure about what
they’re doing they claim that the yields
are higher now this reminds me of a
story you know there was once a survey
done to determine which alcoholic drink
was the most potent and a group of
inspectors took vodka and water and got
drunk the next day they took rum and
water and got drunk and on the third day
they took whiskey and water and got
drunk they came to the conclusion that
it was the water that made them drunk
the logic is the science of tobacco
logic that they’re using ladies and
gentlemen you can fool some of the
people all the time you can fool all the
people some of the time and that is
enough time to become the Prime Minister
of India remember that so genetically
modified crops is an interference with
nature interfering with the natural
cycle because the heritage seeds no
longer remain biodiversity is affected
and this on a philosophic level in terms
of the larger picture when we look at
this process of genetic engineering as
being symbolic of something else is an
interference and as I said at the very
beginning up to a point something might
be very salutary but science also
teaches us that there is a word called
optimum there are certain things that
you can do but if you overdo it you
interfere and cause irreparable damage
which is what genetically modified crops
are doing they’re causing allergies to
erupt because for example if you make a
transfer which combines a gene with the
gene from a
Brazilian nut you might get lots of
people who are allergic to nuts and you
know biologists know people of medicine
know that the allergy to nuts is very
very large and high second toxicity is
increased levels of toxicity increase as
you you know interfere with the natural
cycle and most of all what is most
alarming is the fact that if you survive
and subsist on GM crops you might become
resistance resistant to antibiotics how
does this happen actually the process of
genetic modification is in several parts
and one of them is that when you
experiment you find that not all the
cells are responsive there are a large
number of cells which are responsive and
some cells are not to this transfer so
how do you find out you introduce a gene
which is resistant to antibiotic and
then you find that so many cells are
resistant you take all those cells and
you work on them but the gene which is
resistant to antibiotics remains so that
causes let’s say resistance to virus
like Pseudomonas which is very very
dangerous I’d like to conclude by saying
that there are certain things that we do
we formulate rules it is not often that
these rules fail but sometimes the rules
look very nice when they’re framed but
in actual practice the result might be
opposite practitioners of medicine would
know the name of dr. Benjamin Spock who
was a pediatrician a famous child
specialist he had six theories about
bringing up children and then he had six
children and no theories the point he
made was he was very much
against corporal punishment he didn’t
want to beat up children at any point of
time now one day he was repairing his
house and he had piled up some cement in
front of the house and the street
urchins the middle children they messed
up the cement so naturally dr. Spock was
annoyed and he told the children in his
own very calm way children please don’t
mess up the cement therefore some work
I’m and in some repairs to my house but
the children didn’t listen they messed
up the cement again now dr. Spock was
gradually losing it and he told them he
demonstrated with them children please
don’t mess up the cement but the
children didn’t listen they messed up
the cement yet again now dr. Spock
completely lost it he started picking up
the children and beating them up when he
was actually beating up the children and
neighbor happened to pass the neighbor
said but dr. Spock I thought you didn’t
believe in corporal punishment and dr.
Spock said my ideas hold in the abstract
but not in the concrete ladies and
general that is what is happening today
we are living in a world where we’re
being dictated by other people and I’m
sorry to say that that science which has
given us so much we just brought up to
the pinnacle of glory and a progress is
often a danger are we not dictated by
the mobile today think of how much time
is taken up by Facebook and whatsapp and
Google Time which you could have given
to your children to your friends to your
loved ones now if you don’t have the
phone you feel insecure think of how
much time is spent when people
constantly phone you and if you don’t
phone back they get mad at you so whole
new etiquette is being formed a whole
new language a new counterculture
through whatsapp all this was not there
when there was just the landline and
because of the mobile and the computer
other applications the world is also
becoming a very difficult place to live
in you all know that because there’s
constant mobile networks the water in
coconuts has disappeared the coconuts
are no longer the same again man
considers himself to be the center of
the universe we live in an
anthropometric world this is the problem
let us desist from that yes continue
with research continue to work in the
field of genetic modification do the
research but see that it has a salutary
result in fact dropping of research all
this is also linked to corporate bodies
which actually employ the scientists and
any kind of independent research which
tries to point out flaws in the GM crops
is suppressed and even violence is
resorted to that is what is most
shocking I’d like to conclude by saying
that there was a man in the time of
Adolf Hitler
call mr. Mengele and he did a lot of
work in genetic research he was not
caught actually he was not apprehended
he escaped to South America where he was
working on a ploy to actually create
clothes of Adolf Hitler think of such a
world ladies and gentlemen see a field
and see a film called the boys from
Brazil which talks about Mengele I don’t
want to be an apocalyptic philosopher
and talk about unhealthy things and
sound the bell of doom the very fact
that we are debating on this talking
about this the fact that this selection
has been done I’m thankful to TEDx and
the neutron proves that we are aware
that we are allowing that amount of
dissent the right to dissent is very
important I may not be wholly correct in
what I’m saying but I have the right to
voice my opinion give importance to the
individual voice the voice
which defers which dimmers that’s very
important and let us not be very very
sure of what we’re doing in a sense
Hamlet is the story of a man who could
not make up his mind in a sense it’s
important to vacillate as Hamlet said to
be or not to be that is the question
whether it is nobler in the mind to
suffer the slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune or to take arms
against a sea of troubles and by
opposing end them to die to Sleep No
More and by a sleep to say we end the
heartache and the thousand natural
shocks that flesh is heir to tis a
consummation devoutly to be wish’d to
die to sleep to sleep perchance to dream
aye there’s the rub for in that sleep of
death what dreams may come when we have
shuffled off this no normal coil must give us pause thank you very much
I am not really a doctor but I’m going
to do a bit of doctoring during the
speech because the subject that I’ve
been given is how genetically modified
crops are affecting the environment the
kind of hazards that are being created
it almost feels like I’m back to school
or maybe first year college and in those
days where ever one had to really talk
about a proposition one was told by very
famous debater called
mr. xu dong shoo – Gupta a great friend
of my own father professor Ann
Vishwanathan that in Grecian times in
Hellenic times there was a system when a
bill was to be proposed the speaker was
placed on a platform and a rope would be
placed around his neck if he succeeded
in convincing the audience and the bill
was passed the Rope would be removed if
not the platform would be removed I find
myself in much the same situation
because the subject is so difficult we
are living in a world where scientific
progress cannot be denied I myself
belong to a background in mathematics
and therefore I give the highest value
to science scientific progress and
research however it is very important to
realize that small is beautiful doing
more does not necessarily mean doing
good and the old average the old
American adage that if it is working
then don’t fix it is not quite correct
now let’s look at
genetically modified crops now what is a
genetically modified crop it’s a kind of
crop where genes are transferred
artificially from one organism to
another and this could be from the same
species or from the same genus the
different kinds of varieties of this
modification or genetic engineering it
is my proposition today to say that on
the whole on the whole meaning there
could be pluses and minuses genetically
modified crops are a hazard to the
environment know why I’ll quickly give
you what I’ve researched firstly they
are unhealthy and studies research
sampling has proved that they could
cause they could cause on unhealthy
situations where you become infertile
and it could also cause gastrointestinal
disorders second they contaminate
permanently you know because once you
transfer the genes is not possible to
wash it down with water the footprint is
laid they contaminate permanently
they have several side effects and these
side effects are again permanent you
can’t get rid of them because these
genitive eclis modified crops are
resistant to pests you will find that
the pesticides don’t affect the crops
that is the you know proposition so the
use of pesticides increases which is not
a good thing the government has been
strangely lacks in its laws they are
resistant to labeling so that there’s a
mystery attached to these genetically
modified crops
and even those scientists who working in
this area not entirely sure about what
they’re doing they claim that the yields
are higher now this reminds me of a
story you know there was once a survey
done to determine which alcoholic drink
was the most potent and a group of
inspectors took vodka and water and got
drunk the next day they took rum and
water and got drunk and on the third day
they took whiskey and water and got
drunk they came to the conclusion that
it was the water that made them drunk
the logic is the science of tobacco
logic that they’re using ladies and
gentlemen you can fool some of the
people all the time you can fool all the
people some of the time and that is
enough time to become the Prime Minister
of India remember that so genetically
modified crops is an interference with
nature interfering with the natural
cycle because the heritage seeds no
longer remain biodiversity is affected
and this on a philosophic level in terms
of the larger picture when we look at
this process of genetic engineering as
being symbolic of something else is an
interference and as I said at the very
beginning up to a point something might
be very salutary but science also
teaches us that there is a word called
optimum there are certain things that
you can do but if you overdo it you
interfere and cause irreparable damage
which is what genetically modified crops
are doing they’re causing allergies to
erupt because for example if you make a
transfer which combines a gene with the
gene from a
Brazilian nut you might get lots of
people who are allergic to nuts and you
know biologists know people of medicine
know that the allergy to nuts is very
very large and high second toxicity is
increased levels of toxicity increase as
you you know interfere with the natural
cycle and most of all what is most
alarming is the fact that if you survive
and subsist on GM crops you might become
resistance resistant to antibiotics how
does this happen actually the process of
genetic modification is in several parts
and one of them is that when you
experiment you find that not all the
cells are responsive there are a large
number of cells which are responsive and
some cells are not to this transfer so
how do you find out you introduce a gene
which is resistant to antibiotic and
then you find that so many cells are
resistant you take all those cells and
you work on them but the gene which is
resistant to antibiotics remains so that
causes let’s say resistance to virus
like Pseudomonas which is very very
dangerous I’d like to conclude by saying
that there are certain things that we do
we formulate rules it is not often that
these rules fail but sometimes the rules
look very nice when they’re framed but
in actual practice the result might be
opposite practitioners of medicine would
know the name of dr. Benjamin Spock who
was a pediatrician a famous child
specialist he had six theories about
bringing up children and then he had six
children and no theories the point he
made was he was very much
against corporal punishment he didn’t
want to beat up children at any point of
time now one day he was repairing his
house and he had piled up some cement in
front of the house and the street
urchins the middle children they messed
up the cement so naturally dr. Spock was
annoyed and he told the children in his
own very calm way children please don’t
mess up the cement therefore some work
I’m and in some repairs to my house but
the children didn’t listen they messed
up the cement again now dr. Spock was
gradually losing it and he told them he
demonstrated with them children please
don’t mess up the cement but the
children didn’t listen they messed up
the cement yet again now dr. Spock
completely lost it he started picking up
the children and beating them up when he
was actually beating up the children and
neighbor happened to pass the neighbor
said but dr. Spock I thought you didn’t
believe in corporal punishment and dr.
Spock said my ideas hold in the abstract
but not in the concrete ladies and
general that is what is happening today
we are living in a world where we’re
being dictated by other people and I’m
sorry to say that that science which has
given us so much we just brought up to
the pinnacle of glory and a progress is
often a danger are we not dictated by
the mobile today think of how much time
is taken up by Facebook and whatsapp and
Google Time which you could have given
to your children to your friends to your
loved ones now if you don’t have the
phone you feel insecure think of how
much time is spent when people
constantly phone you and if you don’t
phone back they get mad at you so whole
new etiquette is being formed a whole
new language a new counterculture
through whatsapp all this was not there
when there was just the landline and
because of the mobile and the computer
other applications the world is also
becoming a very difficult place to live
in you all know that because there’s
constant mobile networks the water in
coconuts has disappeared the coconuts
are no longer the same again man
considers himself to be the center of
the universe we live in an
anthropometric world this is the problem
let us desist from that yes continue
with research continue to work in the
field of genetic modification do the
research but see that it has a salutary
result in fact dropping of research all
this is also linked to corporate bodies
which actually employ the scientists and
any kind of independent research which
tries to point out flaws in the GM crops
is suppressed and even violence is
resorted to that is what is most
shocking I’d like to conclude by saying
that there was a man in the time of
Adolf Hitler
call mr. Mengele and he did a lot of
work in genetic research he was not
caught actually he was not apprehended
he escaped to South America where he was
working on a ploy to actually create
clothes of Adolf Hitler think of such a
world ladies and gentlemen see a field
and see a film called the boys from
Brazil which talks about Mengele I don’t
want to be an apocalyptic philosopher
and talk about unhealthy things and
sound the bell of doom the very fact
that we are debating on this talking
about this the fact that this selection
has been done I’m thankful to TEDx and
the neutron proves that we are aware
that we are allowing that amount of
dissent the right to dissent is very
important I may not be wholly correct in
what I’m saying but I have the right to
voice my opinion give importance to the
individual voice the voice
which defers which dimmers that’s very
important and let us not be very very
sure of what we’re doing in a sense
Hamlet is the story of a man who could
not make up his mind in a sense it’s
important to vacillate as Hamlet said to
be or not to be that is the question
whether it is nobler in the mind to
suffer the slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune or to take arms
against a sea of troubles and by
opposing end them to die to Sleep No
More and by a sleep to say we end the
heartache and the thousand natural
shocks that flesh is heir to tis a
consummation devoutly to be wish’d to
die to sleep to sleep perchance to dream
aye there’s the rub for in that sleep of
death what dreams may come when we have
shuffled off this no normal coil must give us pause thank you very much
Please follow and like us: