[Assam] Fwd: HPI, June 17, 2006 US innovations in female feoticide

Sat Jun 17 18:51:16 PDT 2006

Hindu Press International <hpi.list at hindu.org> wrote:  From: Hindu Press International <hpi.list at hindu.org>
Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 11:00:49 -1000
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: HPI, June 17, 2006

             June 17, 2006 

   Amarnath Yatra Suspended Due to Heavy Rain and Snowfall  
   Arya Samay Swami Indervesh Passes Away  
   Saturn and Mars Conjunction Worries Astrologers  
   Couples Come to US For Procedure to Choose Sex of Baby  
   US Sex Determination Kit Sparks Fresh Fears  
   Genetically Modified Cotton Seed Controversy Increases in India

    1. Amarnath Yatra Suspended Due to Heavy Rain and Snowfall  www.uniindia.com
  SRINIGAR, INDIA, June 16, 2006: (HPI note: There is also a report in the Times of India that the ice Siva Lingam which normally forms naturally each year in the cave at this pilgrimage destination has failed to form this year. Apparently this fact has been withheld from pilgrims who are only now becoming aware of it.)

Heavy rains and snowfall at various places along the track to the Amarnath cave shrine have once again forced suspension of the pilgrimage from both Baltal and Pahalgam routes. Official sources said today that snowfall and heavy rains had been recorded since yesterday afternoon at several places on way to the holy cave shrine from both shorter Baltal and traditional Pahalgam tracks, making them slippery and dangerous for trekking. They said snowfall was also received within the periphery of the holy shrine. The sources said no devotee was allowed to proceed to the cave from either of the two routes. After remaining suspended for three consecutive days due to landslides triggered by heavy snowfall and incessant rains at several places along the track to the holy cave shrine since its commencement on June 11, the two-month-long Amarnath pilgrimage resumed only Wednesday following improvement in weather conditions. A Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) spokesman said 4,371
 stranded pilgrims had left for the holy shrine from Baltal yesterday morning while a batch of 84 devotees went to the cave in helicopter. About 2,000 pilgrims were allowed to proceed to the holy cave from Pahalgam yesterday morning while 1,838 devotees returned to the base camp from the traditional route after paying obeisance at the shrine, he added.

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    2. Arya Samay Swami Indervesh Passes Away  www.uniindia.com
  CHANDIGARH, INDIA, June 13, 2006: Arya Samaj leader and former MP Swami Indervesh died in Rohtak district town of Haryana last night. He was 76. Swami Indervesh, who has remained associated with Arya Sabha, Haryana, and Sarvadeshik Arya Yuvak Parishad, breathed his last in the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Research (PGIMR). Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has expressed shock and grief over the death of the Swami who also served as the Chancellor of Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Hardwar. In a condolence message, Mr Hooda said Swami Indervesh had launched a crusade to eradicate social evils and promote education, especially among women. The Swami ji, he said, would be long remembered for concerted efforts made by him to create a new social order. "In his death, the state has lost a great social reformer," the Chief Minister added.

According to Swami Agnivesh, who considered Swami Indervesh his mentor, they had worked together for the Arya Samaj, bonded labor liberation and farmer's welfare. The final rites were performed June 13 in Rohtak, Haryana, near Delhi. A memorial meeting was scheduled for June 17 in Delhi.

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    3. Saturn and Mars Conjunction Worries Astrologers  timesofindia.indiatimes.com
  NEW DELHI, INDIA, June 18, 2006: Saturn will hug Mars on Sunday night in a celestial embrace astronomers term conjunction. While skywatchers prepare for a visual feast, astrologers are calling it a disastrous encounter. Soothsayers have warned that the conjunction is bound to upset the usual order of things. For instance, Brazil, scheduled to play against Australia in a FIFA World Cup tie at 9.30 pm, could be in for a surprise. (HPI note: From our quick google on this, Australia are a ten-to-one underdog against defending world champion Brazil, who are favored to win this year's cup.) In fact, astrologer Bejan Daruwalla predicts the FIFA World Cup will have an "unusual" winner and the Rakhi Sawant case will further flare up. Saturn and Mars will come closest on Sunday night and appear to touch each other. "In reality, the two are millions of kilometres apart. But viewed from Earth, it will appear as if they are touching. They will be about half a degree away from each
 other, that is a little less than the width of a little finger held against the sky at an arm's length," says C. B. Devgan, of SPACE, an NGO.

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    4. Couples Come to US For Procedure to Choose Sex of Baby  www.sun-sentinel.com
  UNITED STATES, June 14, 2006: (HPI note: A report from India on June 16 states that several doctors were arrested for sex selection procedures, which is a crime in India. It is a crime in India is to selectively abort a child after determining its gender through ultrasound scans. The process described below involves making a determination at the embryo stage, which is taking place outside the mother. Embryos of the undesired sex are destroyed, or in some cases donated. The next report is on a new method to determine the sex of the child at just five weeks.)

The Chinese want boys, and the Canadians want girls. If they have enough money, they come to the United States to choose the sex of their babies. Well-off foreign couples are getting around laws banning sex selection in their home countries by coming to American soil--where its legal--for medical procedures that can give them the boy, or girl, they want. The United States' lack of regulation m eans a growing global market for a few fertility clinics. These businesses advertise in airline magazines or post Web sites aimed at luring clients worldwide. Opponents say this amounts to medical tourism for designer babies and should awaken lawmakers. But one doctor who offers embryo selection for about $20,000 says he is serving the marketplace and helping Nature, not playing God. People will be less alarmed as sex selection becomes more routine, said Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg of the Fertility Institutes of Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The procedure, which Steinberg also offers as an
 add-on service for infertile couples, determines the gender of a batch of fertilized eggs and implants only embryos of the wanted sex. This process--called preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD--is more widely used to screen for genetic diseases.

Foes call it "consumer eugenics" and say it opens the door to a future where parents will choose their babies' hair color, eye color and potential to grow tall enough to play basketball. U.S. doctors are catering to the same gender bias that has led to female infanticide in China and India, opponents said. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine says sex selection of embryos is clearly ethical when the method is used to prevent genetic disease. But the professional group discourages its use for choosing one gender over another. The group says the practice risks reinforcing sexism in society and diverts medical resources from real medical needs. While many countries prohibit sex selection techniques without a medical purpose, the United States has no such ban. "We are one of those few countries in the world where sex selection using PGD isn't regulated," said Susannah Bauch, director of the Reproductive Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University.
 "It's certainly a magnet for couples for whom this is important."

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    5. US Sex Determination Kit Sparks Fresh Fears  timesofindia.indiatimes.com
  CHANDIGARH, INDIA, June 17, 2006: For the Indian states which have been able to control sex-determination tests through ultrasound, a new US-patented gender testing kit -- available over the Internet -- which enables sex-determination as early as five weeks after conception will spell more troubles. The kit costs US$275 and involves sending a blood sample to a US laboratory and receiving results within 48 hours. "If the kit enters the Indian market, it can lead to mass abortions of the female foetus and further skew sex ratios," says Dr. Kuldeep Singh, former president of Indian Medical Association, Punjab. "Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, an abortion can take place till the 12th week and this kit assures detection in the fifth week itself," says Dr. Singh, asking the Punjab health authorities to take immediate steps to ban the site from viewing in India. Claiming 99. 5% accuracy, the company says that the kit's technology has been in trial for 14
 years. The technique traces the amount of active genetic fetal chromosomal DNA in the maternal blood to determine gender.

Krishan Kumar, deputy commissioner, Nawanshahr, who is spearheading the campaign to curb the menace of ultra-sound machines that are widely used for sex-determination tests, says, "If such a kit exists, the very thought of it worries me. We have been unable to control sex-determination tests through ultra-sounds and the new kit will compound the problems. I also see Punjabis headed for the US to get the tests done as it has already been established that Indians are going abroad to get male embryo implanted."

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    6. Genetically Modified Cotton Seed Controversy Increases in India  www.dailypioneer.com
  HYDERABAD, INDIA, June 8, 2006: The controversy over the use of a genetically modified seed called BT cotton has escalated. Agriculture ministers from seven states that grow cotton met in Hyderabad to discuss the use of the seed. Andhra Pradesh has been negotiating with Monsanto, the company importing the seed into India, to reduce the price of the Bt cotton seed. The article explains, "On a petition filed by state government, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTPC) had held that the seed companies, particularly Monsanto Mahyco Biotec Ltd, have been adopting restrictive trade practices in the country and imposing unreasonable royalty of US$20 per 450 gram of Bt cotton seed. The Monsanto's BT cotton seeds were being sold for a very high price of $36 per 450 grams. But the MRTP's ruling brought down it to about $17. " 

Two organizations called the AP Coalition in Defence of Diversity (APCDD) and South Against Genetic Engineering (SAGE) want the seed banned from Indian agriculture altogether. They contend that it is not only the price of the seed that is the problem. PV Satheesh, the convenor of the two organizations, explains, "At least a thousand farmers, if not more, have committed suicide after growing BT cotton in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra as well as in Karnataka. Quoting independent scientific research, there has been no reduction in the use of pesticides and pests were developing resistance in the country forcing farmers to use more toxic sprays, and there has been no increase in the yield by the BT seeds."

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