YEAR OF TIGER - SAVE TIGERS

Tigers are on the verge of extinction. According to WWF, Tigers are amongst the ten most endangered species in the world. Only 3500 or less tigers have been left! Over the last century more than 95% of the Tiger population has been wiped out & three sub-species are already extinct.

Out of total tiger population, India bears 1411 tigers according to latest records. The Tiger as the National Animal of India symbolizes the power, strength, elegance, alertness, intelligence and endurance of the nation. We Indians are lucky that India bears half of the population of tigers in the world with 23 tiger reserves in 17 states.. But the harsh reality is that India has far fewer tigers living in the wild than had been thought. In May 2007, the Wildlife Institute of India census showed tiger numbers falling in some states by two-thirds in five years. It found the largest decline in the tiger population to be in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, where the number of “big cats” (as they are otherwise called) has gone down from 710 to 255 in the past seven years.

Tigers are poached for their body parts - skins are prized for fashion and tiger bones are used for oriental medicines.Tiger skin trade is a large scale market in China and Tibet whose main provider is India. Investigations reveal that if immediate action is not taken to save the tiger, it could soon become extinct in India. Tiger skin and other body parts sell for thousands of dollars.Tiger pelts can fetch up to $12,500 in China.

Every participant in a tug-of-war is seen wearing tiger skins.A tent made up of 108 tiger skins.

 

TIGER SKIN IN A BOWL

Traditional Medicine practitioners use nearly every part of Tigers, from their whiskers to their eyes, claws, pelts, flesh and bones. Their bones are ground into a powder that is used to manufacture "Tiger Bone Wine," of supposed medicinal value and elixirs from ground Tiger bones are used to treat rheumatism, convulsions, scabies, boils, dysentery, ulcers, typhoid and malaria (Ward and Ward 1993). The trade continues because of the ingrained and widespread beliefs by the Chinese and many other Asians to be a part of traditions and customs. In Thailand, special farms were developed where Cubs are removed from the mother at birth so that she will immediately mate again and reproduce more. Cages were constructed and everything was purely for business purpose. Hopefully, this practice has been banned.

 

THIS PICTURE IS TO LET U REALIZE HOW CRUELY ANIMALS ARE BEING USED

An investigator with the Wildlife Protection Society of India, Nitin Desai says criminal groups use central Indian nomadic tribes, who have extensive knowledge of the tiger habitat, to poach the animal.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set up a task force after reports that the entire tiger population of Sariska reserve in Rajasthan had been wiped out by poachers.

Wildlife activist Valmik Thapar accuses India's wildlife protection agencies of apathy. "Forest officials are underpaid, understaffed, and ill-equipped to protect tigers from often heavily armed poachers," he says.
The data as presented in TIMES OF INDIA is as follows:-
http://www.saveourtigers.com/pdf/66%20tigers%20dead%20in%208%20months.pdf



On 14th February, according to Chinese calendar, their new year will start and this year would be their “YEAR OF TIGERS”. Thus their own traditional approach can definitely help this year to create widespread awareness to save tigers. As half of tigers are in india and india’s tiger trade is mainly related to china, the awareness needs to be developed to save the tigers rather than using their body parts for their own traditional purpose.

Now the question is how we, the normal people, help to the save tigers. Various organization have taken the matter onto their hands to make the SAVE TIGER campaign a big impact, provide a better platform and raise more and more hands either to serve or help provide the aid or make the awareness widespread and reach upto the masses which are involved in such type of activities. Remember, ignorance and helplessness only can lead to the inhuman activities. By making people realize what wrong they are doing and what impact it can have or by helping them and showing the right path of leading the life can always help. Try helping in the best way you possibly can… here are some good links if you want to help:-
http://save-tiger.blogspot.com/
/http://www.saveourtigers.com/
http://www.tigersincrisis.com/
http://projecttiger.nic.in/
http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/tigers/year-of-tiger.html

BT BRINJAL CONTROVERSY

We all Indians claim to be the superpower till 2020 (and if not possible till 2050 as the time limit keeps on extending as the predicted time approaches near!!) along with the most talented scientists of our time making the out of world researches. But if this is the way we handle such sensitive issues like that of GM crops mainly BT BRINJAL, than this idea needs a lot of  rethinking. On Friday, 22-1-2010, the argument between Union ministers for agriculture and environment, Sharad Pawar and Jairam Ramesh got heated up over whether to clear genetically modified crop Bt brinjal for commercial use or not. While Pawar has said that Bt brinjal has been cleared by biotech regulator Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) and hence should be allowed to be marketed, the environment minister has said the final decision on the issue rests with the government .

State governments of Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal have already decided not to allow BT brinjal in their state. These three states produce 60% of brinjal of our country. Brinjal comprise about 9% of total vegetable production of india and about 2,500 varieties of brinjal are being cultivated across the country. Ramesh said “We have asked for the expert opinion of 60 eminent scientists  and the final decision taken would not be in a closed room but taking into consideration everything."

However, the discussion also veered towards the Bt cotton cultivation and its impact in Gujarat. The Bt cotton was introduced in state in year 2001. Jassiben Solanki of Mehsana said, "In the last few years, Bt cotton production has come down drastically after a bumper cultivation in initial years. There are also cases of Bt cotton fodder affecting the reproduction cycle of cattles."

Some farmers who cultivated bt cotton in other parts of country said,
1. Yields started falling after three years, and now the crop was not worth harvesting.
2. Existing pests developed resistance, new pests appeared. They now spend more on pesticides than they did on hybrids.
3. Soil quality has deteriorated so much that nothing now grows after Bt Cotton is cultivated and harvested.
4. All those who came into contact with the cotton suffered allergies.
5. Cattle died in large numbers and fell sick after being fed Bt Cotton straw. In Andhra Pradesh post mortem revealed the role of the Bt toxin.

Last year the French scientist Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini of the Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN) was given the task to examine the effects of BT brinjal  submitted  by Monsanto-Mahyco to the Indian regulatory authorities. Seralini  found the following health impacts of BT brinjal:

·          Bt brinjal produces a protein in the vegetable cells that induce antibiotic resistance. This is recognised as a major health problem and is inappropriate for commercialised use.

·          Bt brinjal appears to have 15 percent less calories and different alkaloid content compared to non-GM brinjal. It contains 16-17 mg/kg Bt insecticide toxin. When fed to animals, effects were observed on blood chemistry and  on blood clotting time (prothrombin).

·          Changes in lactating cows were observed which include -  increased weight gain, intake of more dry roughage matter and milk production up by 10-14 percent as if they were treated by a hormone.

·          Rats fed Bt brinjal had diarrhoea, increased water consumption; decrease in liver weight, and liver to body weight.

·          Feed intake was modified in broiler chickens.

From this, Seralini stated that it is not safe at all and it is foolish on the part of india to introduce such GM products in the markets without proper prior analysis. Also he stated that longest productivity test he carried out was just of 90 days.  Long term use may lead to tumor and cancer. So far, over 70,000 Indians have signed the “I am No Lab Rat” anti-GM protest in India that is also battling large scale cultivation of Bt cotton. As a matter of fact, many NGOs, state governments and scientists have come forward to hold a nationwide protest against BT brinjal on 30TH January; Mahatma’s martyrdom day.



In different regions of our country, people came forward with different ideas to protest against BT BRINJAL:-

·         The Kerala government  proposed nation-wide protest against Bt brinjal on Martyr’s Day.

·         In Kolkota, some scientists and activists will observe a day long fast at a stall in the ongoing kolkota bookfair on 30^th january.

·         In Chandigarh, Activists of NGO Swadeshi Jagran Manch Friday raised slogans against the clearance given to BT Brinjal, saying it was like "serving poison on a platter" on 29^th January.

·         A group of people in Chennai  TOOK a BT WALK to protest.

·         Long back, the largest protest took place in Bhubaneswar, the state capital of Orissa, organized by Orissa Nari Samaj, a tribal women’s collective. More than 5 000 tribal women, along with hundreds of farmers from Dhenkanal and over 300 students from Bhubaneswar joined a large protest rally against GM crops.

·         Earlier, at Jantar Mantar, Delhi  a protest was held which was attented by officials from 15 states.

 

It should be noted that we are not the ones who are against any scientific development or becoming a hurdle against the progress of our country but we are just saying that if what is done is right than allow us to be a part of it. Maintain complete transparency over this sensitive issue. Details such as the scientific basis for the conclusions of the GEAC committee, factors considered by the committee and any dissent within the committee should be disclosed. Being myself a biotech student, any advancement on the path of biotechnology will definitely held my head high but large scale commercialization of not so properly analysed BT products (remember here BT stands for the bacteria- BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS and not biotechnology) obviously is a NO-NO from my side.

For the future of our country, join the protest carried out throughout India in any form and see what the collective efforts can do!

The concerned officials have decided to hold a meeting to discuss the topic on 6th february and the final decision would be taken on 10th february.

HOT DEBATE OVER BT BRINJAL VIDEO

MYSTERY OF Y CHROMOSOME

The presence of Y chromosome in an individual makes its owner male as it carries a male-determininng gene. Boys are born with one Y and one X chromosome in all their body’s cells, while girls have two X chromosomes. Uptil now it was believed that the two human sex chromosomes, X and Y originated a few hundred million years ago from the same ancestral autosome during the evolution of sex determination. The X chromosome has held onto some of its historical gene content but Y chromosome hasn’t mostly because they have no counter part to swap genes with and thus due to constant gene loss during evolution.

Recently whole human genome has been encoded. Before that, David Page director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Jennifer Hughes and others working with scientist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis decoded the DNA sequence of the human Y chromosome and even chimpanzees Y chromosome. We all knew till today that human and chimpanzees are closest cousins but new researches have given out some contradict results. It was found that the genome sequences of human and chimpanzees are more than 98% homologous but their Y chromosomes are found to be only around 70% homologous which means they are 30% different from each other! Despite the close evolutionary link between human and chimpanzees, a comparison of the two species' Y chromosomes show a surprisingly vast number of differences between their two genetic sequences, according to an analysis published in Nature.

According to views presented in Nature the palindromes were discovered in 2003 which read same in both directions. They are said to play a prominent role in difference in genomes of the two cousins and also in preserving nature of single Y chromosome. Discovery of the palindromes explained how the Y chromosome has managed over evolutionary time to discard bad genes by the fact that it recombines with itself. Each palindrome readily folds like a hairpin, bringing its two arms together. The cell’s DNA control machinery detects any difference between the two arms and can convert a mutation back to the correct sequence, saving the Y’s genes from mutational decay. But the same palindrome protection system can turn disastrous when defects occur in normal functioning and can result in male anomalies . These palindromes also show that there is major difference in Y chromosome of human and chimpanzees mainly because of difference in their sequence in palindrome region. Chimpanzees have these regions wider and even larger (about 40%) than in humans. Most of these mirror image sequences also have multiple copies, unlike in human.

Other point which can be taken into account is that of mating habits. The chimpanzees are known to show polygamous relationships. Thus a single female is mated by many males which leads to the competition among the male sperms resulting into the the strongest one to win and thus the genetic information of strongest is passed on to next generation. This itself leads to rapid evolution of the Y chromosome.

Also, as Y chromosome does not have a counterpart to swap genes with during reproduction (except at very terminal ends were it attaches with homologous X chromosome), natural selection sees it as a single unit and any change in one of the gene will affect rest of the genes of Y chromosomes. This is not the case with other chromosomes as they can swap genes between the pair of chromosome before formation of egg and sperm.

"The Y chromosome seems to play by its own rules," said Willard. "This study really shows why we need to be looking at Y chromosomes in other organisms to figure out what exactly is going on."

The fast evolutionary changes which are taking place in Y chromosomes does not mean men evolve faster but it will affect the evolution process on a whole. But how these changes are affecting and the true mechanism behind this is still left to be understood and may take a long time as according to the record it took Page “13 long years to encode human Y and 8 years to encode chimp Y genome.”

Hi..

Hi to everybody visiting this site... Our world.. the biotech world is full of new happenings, new ideas, new discoveries, new techniques by using the oldest form of life to the newest hybrid organism... i would like to upload the things here as i unfold this mysterious world... i am a beginner and would love to give you what i have, get from u ur suggestions, ur views and ur image of this beautiful world...