Hooray! India Hit the Pause Button on GM Eggplant

Excellent! (4.00 / 3)

Yet isn't it odd (and sad) when this...

Using the precautionary principle and obtaining independent studies.

...is actually considered a huge and unexpected victory?

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Feb 09, 2010 at 21:08:20 PM UTC

Should just... (4.00 / 2)

...be common sense, I'd say.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Feb 09, 2010 at 21:09:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

4000 varieties... (4.00 / 3)

Wow!  How many do we grow here?  I love eggplant, coming from a state which gave the Eggplant Parm Hero to the world.  One has not truly lived until one has made the pilgrimage to NJ for an eggplant parm hero from a small, family-owned Italian restaurant or pizzeria.  The one dish over which North Jersey and South Jersey can find common ground, it unites the state.

Okay, that being said...

Now I'm gonna go on a search for heirloom eggplant varieties.  I can say I've ever seen any more than five or six different kinds at farmers' markets.  Maybe I need to make an eggplant gorging pilgrimage to India.  Educational purposes, of course.  I'll write The Book On Eggplant!

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Feb 09, 2010 at 21:16:37 PM UTC

Eggplant wiki... (4.00 / 2)

Fascinating...

The most widely cultivated varieties (cultivars) in Europe and North America today are elongated ovoid, 12-25 cm wide (4 1/2 to 9 in) and 6-9 cm broad (2 to 4 in) in a dark purple skin.

A much wider range of shapes, sizes and colors is grown in India and elsewhere in Asia. Larger varieties weighing up to a kilogram (2 pounds) grow in the region between the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, while smaller varieties are found elsewhere. Colors vary from white to yellow or green as well as reddish-purple and dark purple. Some cultivars have a color gradient, from white at the stem to bright pink to deep purple or even black. Green or purple cultivars in white striping also exist. Chinese varieties are commonly shaped like a narrower, slightly pendulous cucumber, and were sometimes called Japanese eggplants in North America.

Oval or elongated oval-shaped and black-skinned cultivars include Harris Special Hibush, Burpee Hybrid, Black Magic, Classic, Dusky, and Black Beauty. Slim cultivars in purple-black skin include Little Fingers, Ichiban, Pingtung Long, and Tycoon; in green skin Louisiana Long Green and Thai (Long) Green; in white skin Dourga. Traditional, white-skinned, egg-shaped cultivars include Casper and Easter Egg. Bicolored cultivars with color gradient include Rosa Bianca and Violetta di Firenze. Bicolored cultivars in striping include Listada de Gandia and Udumalapet. In some parts of India, miniature varieties (most commonly called Vengan) are popular. A particular variety of green brinjal known as Matti Gulla is grown in Matti village of Udupi district in Karnataka state in India.

Wow.  I remember seeing a few eggplant varieties at the Sellwood Garden Club table at the Hawthorne Urban Farmers' Market last year which I'd never seen before, including a golf-ball sized orange-ish variety I loved but forgot the name of.  I don't think any other growers around here do eggplant much beyond the typical long and ovoid 'purple' and 'white', though.

Seems like a potentially profitable niche opening!

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Feb 09, 2010 at 21:45:58 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I was just checking out an Indian seed site. (4.00 / 3)

It's here:
http://www.seedsofindia.com/

They have a few Indian eggplant seend. I really love those mini-sized eggplants.

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by: Crider @ Tue Feb 09, 2010 at 22:33:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Check this one out (4.00 / 3)

http://rareseeds.com/cart/prod...

Nipple Fruit Eggplant. Sadly, it's not edible.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Thu Feb 11, 2010 at 06:22:00 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Neem patent (4.00 / 3)

I wonder if Indians might have a generally unfavorable view of biotechnology stemming from when USDA-W. R. Grace patented the neem tree.

Neem tree patent revoked

If India actually does require long-term independent studies, would those be the first such studies on a GE food crop in the world?

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by: count @ Tue Feb 09, 2010 at 21:18:10 PM UTC

W.R. Grace and corporate personhood... (4.00 / 2)

I propose we rewrite the history books in light of the fact that corporations are considered 'people', specifically in updating the 'serial killer' statistics in order to more properly reflect their historical actions.

Jack the Ripper?  Feh...

Let's see if he can match up to the killing prowess of W.R. Grace, or Union Carbide / Dow Chemical, or Shell in Nigeria, or etc etc...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Feb 09, 2010 at 21:34:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

YAY! (4.00 / 3)

this is fantastic news!!
& hopefully a big step for Real Food.

come firefly-dreaming with me....

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by: RiaD @ Thu Feb 11, 2010 at 03:53:06 AM UTC