PETITION: Tell the FDA to reject GMO salmon

This is going to make your skin crawl:

A corporation called AquaBounty has created a genetically engineered frankenfish by splicing genes from an eel pout with the growth hormone from a Chinook salmon. The result is an aggressive GMO “salmon” that produces growth hormone year-round, grows twice as fast, and consumes five times more food than wild salmon – and it could soon be sold unlabeled at a store near you.

That’s because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is quietly in the process of approving this experimental “frankenfish” product for sale in the United States. Our friends at Credo Action are fighting to keep genetically engineered salmon off store shelves, and they need your help.

Sign the petition: Tell the FDA to reject GMO salmon. 

What’s more, the environmental impact of these frankenfish could be devastating. In October, the Panamanian government fined AquaBounty for repeated violations of environmental regulations at its breeding facility, which is located in Panama to avoid scrutiny from U.S. regulators.

And, according to Food & Water Watch, AquaBounty’s breeding facility has a long history of security issues, including incidents of its GMO salmon escaping into the wild. If AquaBounty is unable or unwilling to follow basic rules to operate their facilities, how can we expect them to produce a safe product or ensure that their dangerous experiment won’t irreparably damage the environment?

We must take action now and urge the FDA to block GMO salmon from reaching our store shelves before it makes a final ruling.

Add your name: Tell the FDA to reject GMO salmon.

Thank you,

Oregon Right to Know

Non BT Cotton… A Notable Experience !!

http://organicfarmingdiary.blogspot.in/search/label/Cotton

28th Feb to 2nd March @ Chandigarh - 5th National Organic Farming Convention On “Mainstreaming Organic Farming”

FROM : JATAN TRUST 

Dear all,

As a secretary of Organic Farming Association of India, I am glad to make much awaited announce that in continuation of our tradition to organize Biennial Convention, the 5th National Organic Farming Convention will be organized at NITTTR in Sector-26 of Chandigarh during 28th Feb. to 2nd March, 2015 jointly with National Institute of Technical Teachers' Training and Research (NITTTR), Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) and Kheti Virasat Mission(KVM).

I thank all, who have brought this mission to the launching pad and have worked day and night tirelessly with volunteer spirit across the nation and in Chandigarh specifically.

Please spread the word in your circles by all means as soon as possible. I also request our associating organizations to link the website of the convention (www.organicconvention.in) to their official website.

Please find the brochure and registration form attached herewith. Hindi versions of the same along with registration form for Exhibition Stall, Food Festival Stall and Kisan Haat will be uploaded on the website soon.

Your query are welcome at organicconvention.2015@gmail.com

Thanks.

-- 

KAPIL SHAH

Jatan: A Mission for Organic Farming,
Vinoba Ashram, Gotri, Vadodara: 390 021
Gujrat, India
Phone: +91(0)265-2371429
Fax: +91(0)265-2371880
Email: jatantrust@gmail.com

LIST : Booklet/ Leaflet/ Document/ Paper

1. To get the matter in a gist check, check article, 'GMOs - Concerns & Impacts' on page 10 & 11 in newsletter- People for Conservation special issue on Agro-biodiversity http://www.kalpavriksh.org/images/Documentation/Newsletters/PiC_%20Jan2014_vol.5iss2__eng.pdf 


2. "10 reasons we don't need GM foods" based on GMO Myths & Truths
http://earthopensource.org/index.php/reports/10-reasons-we-don-t-need-gm-foods


3. GMOs Myths & Truth (English) -
http://earthopensource.org/files/pdfs/GMO_Myths_and_Truths/GMO_Myths_and_Truths_1.3b.pdf

4. Genetically Modified Foods and Crops: some facts that everyone should know -
http://indiagminfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/2013-GM-Briefing-booklet-3.0.pdf


5. Compilation of Scientific papers on Adverse Impact of GMOs -
http://indiagminfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Sci-ref-complete-book-2nd-edition.pdf


6. Why Genetically modified Crops pose a Threat to Peasants, Food Sovereignity, Health, and Biodiversity on the Planet - a summary of scientific arguments ( 14 August 2014 )
http://www.etcgroup.org/content/why-genetically-modified-crops-pose-threat-peasants-food-sovereignty-health-and-biodiversity

7. Can GM and Organic Co-Exist in India?
http://indiagminfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/GM-and-organic-cannot-co-exist-Final1.pdf


8. Marathi write up on GM seeds
http://forgmofree.blogspot.in/2014/10/marathi-write-up-on-gmseeds-by.html


9. 10 years of Bt cotton : False Hype and Failed Promises
http://indiagminfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Bt-Cotton-False-Hype-and-Failed-Promises-Final.pdf

10. Scientific Evidence on Ecological Agriculture in India: new book from ASHA http://www.kisanswaraj.in/wp-content/uploads/scientific-evidence-on-eco-farming-in-india.pdf


11. Small producer agency in the globalised market: making choices in a changing world
http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/16521IIED.pdf?

12. Global Report on GM crops, April 2014, from Friends of the Earth International (FoEI)
http://www.foei.org/resources/publications/publications-by-subject/food-sovereignty-publications/who-benefits-from-gm-crops-2014

13. Who Benefits from GMcrops ? the expansion of Agribusiness interest in Africa through biosafety policy - 2015 Report by Friends of Earth International (FoEI)
http://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Who-benefits-report-2015.pdf

14. Resources on GM Mustard
On GM mustard, you can access a Briefing Paper in English here. Hindi version is available here along with Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Odiya, Punjabi, Tamil,Telugu.
Posters on GM mustard in English and Hindi can be downloaded here.
http://indiaforsafefood.in/gm-resources/

15. Slide presentation on GM Mustard, Risks and Threats
http://www.slideshare.net/RachnaArora4/gm-mustard-rsks-and-threats


Compilation by Tejal Vishweshwar

GMOs are NOT feeding Americans

Hunger in the Heartland: In the heart of GMO Farmland, where Iowa has 30 million acres of primarily GM crops, over 400,000 Iowans don't know where their next meal is coming from. 30% of children in Iowa public schools qualify for free meals. How can Iowa, in a very rich agricultural state, have rising rates of food insecurity? We'll tell you how. GMOs aren't feeding IOWA. GMOs are not feeding the U.S. either, where food insecurity has increased by 57% since they were introduced. The only thing GMOs are feeding are the agrichemical corporations' bank accounts. Feeding the world - the big GMO LIE. BOYCOTT GMOs.

WATCH: http://iowafoodsystemscouncil.org/hunger-in-the-heartland-documentary

READ: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/hunger/

SOURCE: GMO Free USA

ARTICLE : Only 60 Years of Farming Left If Soil Degradation Continues

Generating three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said

 

December 5, 2014

 By Chris Arsenault

ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Generating three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said on Friday.
About a third of the world's soil has already been degraded, Maria-Helena Semedo of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told a forum marking World Soil Day.
The causes of soil destruction include chemical-heavy farming techniques, deforestation which increases erosion, and global warming. The earth under our feet is too often ignored by policymakers, experts said.
"Soils are the basis of life," said Semedo, FAO's deputy director general of natural resources. "Ninety five percent of our food comes from the soil."
Unless new approaches are adopted, the global amount of arable and productive land per person in 2050 will be only a quarter of the level in 1960, the FAO reported, due to growing populations and soil degradation.
Soils play a key role in absorbing carbon and filtering water, the FAO reported. Soil destruction creates a vicious cycle, in which less carbon is stored, the world gets hotter, and the land is further degraded.
"We are losing 30 soccer fields of soil every minute, mostly due to intensive farming," Volkert Engelsman, an activist with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements told the forum at the FAO's headquarters in Rome.
"Organic (farming) may not be the only solution but it's the single best (option) I can think of."

(Editing by Ros Russell)

SOURCE: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/only-60-years-of-farming-left-if-soil-degradation-continues/

LIST : Government Reports

REFERENCE LINKS TO GOVERNMENT REPORTS :

1. 2004 Report of the Task Force on Application of Agricultural Biotechnology (India)

http://agricoop.nic.in/TaskForce/tf.htm

2. 2010 MOEF, Decision on Bt Brinjal (India)

http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/minister_REPORT.pdf 

3. 2010 Annexures - Report by CEE  on consultations on Bt Brinjal (India)

http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/Annex_BT.pdf

4. 2012 Report of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture on GM crops (India)

www.164.100.47.134/lsscommittee/Agriculture/GM_Final.pdf

5. 2012 Report of MoEF's Western Ghats Expert Ecology Panel (WGEEP) (India)

 http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/wg-23052012.pdf

6. 2012 Interim Report of the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) of the Supreme Court (India)

http://indiagminfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/SC-TEC-interim-report-oct17th-2012-GMO-PIL.pdf 

7. 2013 FINAL REPORT of the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) of the Supreme Court along with the covering letter, corigendum and annexures (India)

http://indiagminfo.org/?p=631

8. 2014 Report of High-Level Committee set by MoEF ( cautions severe adverse impact on biodiversity through gene-flow )
http://www.moef.nic.in/sites/default/files/press-releases/Final_Report_of_HLC.pdf

Compilation by Tejal Vishweshwar

The solution to climate change is in our lands

 La Vía Campesina | GRAIN | 05 December 2014 | Other publications

A global effort to give small farmers and indigenous communities control over lands is the best hope we have to deal with climate change and feed the world’s growing population.

As governments converge on Lima for the UN Climate Change Conference, the brutal killing of Peruvian indigenous activist Edwin Chota and three other Ashaninka men this past September is shining a spotlight on the connection between deforestation and indigenous land rights. The simple truth is plain to see: the most effective and just way to prevent deforestation and its impacts on the climate is to recognise and respect the sovereignty of indigenous peoples’ over their territories.

Peru’s violent land conflicts also bring into focus another issue of equal importance to climate change that can no longer be ignored: the concentration of farmland in the hands of a few.

(Photo: Nya Reyes)

Small farms of less than 5 hectares represent 78% of all farms in Peru, but occupy a mere 6% of the country’s agricultural lands. This disturbing figure mirrors the global situation. Worldwide, small farms account for 90% of all farms yet occupy less than a quarter of the agricultural land. This is bad news for the climate.

Just as the dispossession of indigenous peoples of their territories has opened the door to destructive, unsustainable resource extraction, the dispossession of peasants of their lands has laid the basis for an industrial food system that, amongst its many negative effects, isresponsible for 44-57% of all global greenhouse gas emissions.

Food does not have to make such an overweight contribution to climate change. GRAIN estimates that a worldwide redistribution of lands to small farmers and indigenous communities, combined with policies to support local markets and cut the use of chemicals,can reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by half within a few decades and significantly curb deforestation. Simply by rebuilding the organic matter that has been depleted by decades of industrial agriculture, small farmers can put a quarter of the excess carbondioxide that is now in the atmosphere back into the soil.

Giving lands back to small farmers and indigenous communities is also the most effective way to deal with the challenges of feeding a growing global population in an era of climate chaos. The available global data show that small farmers are more efficient at producing food than big plantations. On the fraction of lands that they have held on to, small farmers and indigenous communities continue to produce most of the world’s food – 80% of the food in developing countries says the FAO. Even in Brazil, a powerhouse of industrial agriculture, small farms occupy a quarter of the farmlands but produce 87% of the country’s cassava, 69% of its beans, 59% of its pork, 58% of its cow milk, 50% of its chickens, 46% of its maize, 33.8% of its rice and 30% of its cattle.

The twin needs of feeding the world and cooling the planet can be met. But not if the governments meeting in Lima continue to ignore and violently repress the struggles of their peasants and indigenous peoples for land.

SOURCE: http://www.grain.org/article/entries/5105-the-solution-to-climate-change-is-in-our-lands

Press Release of “Public Awareness on Genetically Modified Foods”

Press Release of “Public Awareness on Genetically Modified Foods”

“ GENETICALLY MODIFIED RAPESEED OR CANOLA OIL HEALTH BENEFITS UNSUBSTANTIATED AND SCIENTIFICALLY NOT PROVEN” SAYS THE   ADVERTISING STANDARDS COUNCIL OF INDIA, ASKS ADVERTISER TO WITHDRAW OR MODIFY THE ADS BEFORE 15 DEC, 2014.

New Delhi, Decembery 5^th 2014: Jivo Canola oil, the largest importer of Canadian Rapeseed or Canola Oil in India, has been asked to withdraw or modify its advertisements latest by the 15^th of December, by the Advertising Standards Councils of India. The ASCI has concluded that the claims that genetically engineered Canola oil consumption is the way to 'Stay Fit And Fabulous', That it is a food choice for preventing heart diseases, boosting memory, preventing cancer, relieving joint pain etc and is beneficial to diabetic and obese patients and also that it is the  'The World's Most Preferred Healthy Cooking Oil' have no scientific evidence and could not be substantiated by the advertiser.

The ASCI took action on a complaint filed by Rachna Arora on October 31^st, 2014, Ms. Arora has been working to bring about consumer awareness on the risks of using genetic engineering technology in food and farming for the past five years.

Jivo Canola Oil published a 4 page supplement titled Healthy Times. This was a part of the main Hindustan Times newspaper, Gurgaon edition, October 12^th, 2014.  The four page supplement included one full page and another half page ad along with various articles to promote the consumption of Canola oil in general and the specific brand of genetically engineered Canola oil in particular.

ASCI found that the claims made in the advertisement were not substantiated under the code I.1. of ASCI which has been laid down 'to ensure the truthfulness and honesty of representations and claims made by advertisements and to safeguard against misleading advertisements’.

What’s unfortunate is that they are selling unsafe and controversial products to us and getting away with their lies. I wish we had systems in place to penalize companies making such false claims blatantly with complete disregard to human health.”  “People suffering from Cardiac conditions, diabetes, joint pains, cancers etc are already of very fragile health and to impel them to consume Canola oil is unethical and inhuman. It’s a shame that they are getting away so easily.  I pray for the day when regulating bodies like ASCI would have the power to penalize, black list and demand public apology from such advertisers. For now, we will have to make do with withdrawal of advertisements.  According to their website Jivo supports education, healthcare & social welfare of underprivileged rural poor, by building schools, hospitals & welfare centers in rural India! How crooked and deceitful is this, when Rapeseed oil  has been associated with Mad Cow, Kidney, liver and cardiac diseases, said Arora.

The Jivo plant was inaugurated by Mr Gerry.Ritz (Agriculture minister of Canada) in 2010 in Kundli, Haryana. According to the company website the former director of Himachal Pradesh agricultural university, Shri iqbal singh is the man behind Jivo.

Canola contributes about 14$ dollars to the Canadian economy. India is a huge market for these multinational companies.

The Advertising Standards Council of India’s Consumer Complaints Council gave the advertiser many weeks to come up with a response and proof to substantiate their claims. CCC upheld Ms. Arora’s  complaint and communicated this to her on the evening of the 4^th of Dec.

I urge you to publish this story in your publication because people must know that all these claims are untrue, especially the ailing who are vulnerable health wise said Rachna Arora, convener of ‘Public Awareness on Genetically Modified Food’, a group working to create informed debates on the use of GE technology.

Rachna Arora, in her complaint to ASCI dated October 31^st 2014,   challenged the claims made by Jivo Canola Oil’  and pointed out that the advertisements promote a toxic food to the public.

ASCI had forwarded the complaint to the advertiser for their comments. ASCI’s Consumer Complaints Council then discussed the complaints in meetings with the advertiser. On the 4^th of December they informed the complainant that the  complaint has been upheld “as the advertisement contravened Chapter I. 1. of the ASCI code” . . In a written response to Ms. Rachna the ASCI representative stated, “The CCC concluded that the claims in the Ads, “Genetically engineered Canola oil consumption as the way to 'Stay Fit and Fabulous', as a food choice for preventing heart diseases, boosting memory, preventing cancer, relieving joint pain etc., good for diabetes, good for the waist line and 'The World's Most Preferred Healthy Cooking Oil', were not substantiated with scientific evidence. The Ads also did not have any qualifiers for these claims. The print Ads contravened Chapter I.1 of the Code.
We have advised the advertiser to withdraw or modify the ad before December 15, 2014.”

Chapter I. 1. of the ASCI code  states the following:

Advertisements must be truthful. All descriptions, claims and comparisons which relate to matters of objectively ascertainable fact should be capable of substantiation. Advertisers and advertising agencies are required to produce such substantiation as and when called upon to do so by the Advertising Standards Council of

For more information, contact:

Rachna Arora : +91 9811746647

===========================

Annexures:

1.      Complaint made by  rachna arora

2.      Decision by consumer complaint council communicated to the complainant

The Complaint by Ms. Rachna Arora

Dear Sir/Madam,

Greetings!

Today, I submitted the following complaint thrice,  at http://www.ascionline.org/index.php/lodge-ur-complaints.html but did not receive any tracking number or acknowledgement.
 

I am therefore resubmitting the complaint here over email. Please acknowledge, action expeditiously and advise the tracking number for my reference. .

Regards,

Rachna

Mobile: 9811746647

The Advertisement

There were two advertisements and a few articles stating, proclaiming and advocating genetically engineered Canola oil consumption as the way to 'Stay Fit And Fabulous', as a food choice for preventing heart diseases, boosting memory, preventing cancer, relieving joint pain etc. It was also stated to be  good for diabetes, good for the waist line and  'The World's Most Preferred Healthy Cooking Oil'.

The supplement was a Hindustan Times Media Marketing Initiative, titled Healthy Times. This was a part of the main HT newspaper, Gurgaon edition, October 12^th, 2014.  The four page supplement included one full page and another half page ad along with huge articles to promote the consumption of Canola oil in general and the specific brand of genetically engineered Canola oil in particular.

 Complaint

1) The advertisements and articles are false & misleading. They promote a toxic food to the public; more so to people who are already suffering from dangerous diseases.

2) GM in food has not been approved by Indian government and the judgment to the PIL is pending in the hon’ble Supreme court of India. Therefore a company cannot  be allowed to promote this dangerous, controversial food to the Indian people.

I request the ASCI

- To ban advertisements of Jivo Canola & such oils all over india

- Ban promotion of all food products containing genetically engineered ingredients, imported or otherwise, processed or unprocessed; till the time the supreme court verdict & a decision by the government of India is announced. 

- Include above under the ASCI’s guidelines

-   All defaulters should be blacklisted by ASCI & its member media houses.

Facts against Canola Oil.(Genetically Engineered Rapeseed Oil)

1. A 2011 review published in Environmental Sciences Europe, 19 studies of mammals fed GMOs were evaluated. The 90-day long trials indicate liver and kidney problems. Kidney’s were disrupted by 43.5% and liver by 30.8%.

2. Canola oil has high levels of erucic acid, a fatty acid that is associated with heart damage, Heshan’s Disease, a disease that manifests itself with fibrotic lesions of the heart.

3. Processed Rapeseed oil is very toxic, even bugs and animals don't eat it. Even after the processing to reduce the Erucic acid content, it is dangerous.

4.It turns rancid rapidly and leaves a residual rancid odor. 

5. Rape seed oil used for stir-frying in China has been found to emit cancer causing chemicals. (Rapeseed oil smoke causes lung cancer) Amal Kumar Maj. The Wall Street JournaL June 7, 1995 pB6(W) pB6 (E) col 1 (11 col in).

6. This oil has been also linked to the Mad Cow disease, Mad cow disease has dramatically come down after Rapeseed was removed from animal feed.

7. When piglets were fed a formula using Canola oil under test conditions; the vitamin E in the blood was reduced to dangerous levels, causing the blood platelets to become extremely sticky, impeding blood flow. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9464891)

8. The animal studies carried out over the past two decades suggest that when rapeseed oil is used in human diets, without adequate saturated fats from ghee, etc., then the detrimental effects are magnified. A large percentage of Indian population is malnourished and ignorant people might get attracted by such advertisements and discounts being offered.

9. As per a 1995 Wall Street Journal article, use of rapeseed oil in cooking was associated with greatly increased rates of lung cancer in the women breathing the fumes while cooking.

10. It is believed that long-term consumption destroys the myelin sheath around the nerves, deplete Vitamin E, inhibit proper metabolism and enzyme action and depresses the immune system.

11.Tremors, lack of coordination, slurred speech, poor memory, incontinence, breathing problems, nervous breakdown, tingling in extremities and arrhythmia and allergies are caused.

I sincerely hope that ASCI, in the interest of the people of this country will penalize Jivo, and instruct them to issue an unequivocal apology, in the same publication. The apology, in my opinion should match the column size of their false advertisements and similar to the ad, should be published, over the weekend when readership is high.

Due to the word constraint here on the ASCI website, I am unable to provide all supporting data. I am therefore, providing some web links and references for your convenience. I look forward to your acknowledgement and speedy action in public interest.

Regards,

Rachna

Links

1.    http://omega6.wellwise.org/canola-oil-gmo-and-allergies

2.    http://gmo-awareness.com/all-about-gmos/gmo-risks/

3.    http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/canola.asp#BGekuc6g7Qd0sgwS.99

4.    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10524614

5.    http://www.naturalnews.com/029516_canola_oil_fraud.html

6.    http://www.quantumbalancing.com/news/canola.htm

References:

Courtesy http://www.dcnutrition.com/news/Detail.CFM?RecordNumber=639

1. RO Vles and others. Nutritional Evaluation of Low-Erucic-Acid Rapeseed Oils. Toxicological Aspects of Food Safety, Archives of Toxicology, Supplement 1, 1978:23-32

2. HL Trenholm and others. An Evaluation of the Relationship of Deitary Fatty Acids to Incidence of Myocardial Lesions in Male Rats. Canadian Institute of Food Science Technology Journal, October 1979;12(4):189-193

3. JKG Kramer and others. Reduction of Myocardial Necrosis in Male Albino Rats by Manipulation of Dietary Fatty Acid Levels. Lipids, 1982;17(5):372-382.

4. FD Sauer and others. Additional vitamin E required in milk replacer diets that contain canola oil. Nutrition Research, 1997;17(2):259-269.

5. JK Kramer and others. Hematological and lipid changes in newborn piglets fed milk-replacer diets containing erucic acid. Lipids, January 1998;33(1):1-10.

6. SM Iunis and RA Dyer. Dietary canola oil alters hematological indices and blood lipids in neonatal piglets fed formula. Journal of Nutrition, July 1999;129(7):1261-8.

7. WMN Ratnayake and others. Influence of Sources of Dietary Oils on the Life Span of Stroke-Prone Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats. Lipids, 2000;35(4):409-420.

8. MN Wallsundera and others. Vegetable Oils High in Phytosterols Make Erythrocytes Less Deformable and Shorten the Life Span of Stroke-Prone Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats. Journal of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, May, 2000;130(5):1166-78

9 OA Levander and MA Beck. Selenium and viral virulence. British Medical Bulletin, 1999;55(3):528-33.

10. LL Rudel and others. Dietary monounsaturated fatty acids promote aortic atherosclerosis in LDL-receptor-null, human ApoB100-overexpressing transgenic mice. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, November 1998;18(11):1818-27.

Consumer Complaint Council’s Decision Communicated by ASCI to Complainant

Rachna Arora <rachna01@gmail.com>

---

ASCI Complaint Acknowledgement 1 message

---

contact@ascionline.org <contact@ascionline.org>	Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 6:24 PM
To: rachna01@gmail.com Cc: contact@ascionline.org
Dear Ms Rachna, Re: Your complaint C.7210  against the advertisement of Jivo Wellness Pvt. Ltd. - (Jivo Canola Oil) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A complaint regarding C.7210 was considered by the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC). As per their decision, the complaint has been UPHELD. The CCC viewed the print Ads and considered the Advertiser’s response. The CCC concluded that the claims in the Ads, “Genetically engineered Canola oil consumption as the way to 'Stay Fit and Fabulous', as a food choice for preventing heart diseases, boosting memory, preventing cancer, relieving joint pain etc., good for diabetes, good for the waist line and 'The World's Most Preferred Healthy Cooking Oil', were not substantiated with scientific evidence. The Ads also did not have any qualifiers for these claims. The print Ads contravened Chapter I.1 of the Code. We have advised the advertiser to withdraw or modify the ad before December 15, 2014. Thank you for having referred this complaint to us. Assuring you of our services in the pursuit of Self-Regulation in Advertising Content. Yours faithfully, B. Noronha Executive Assistant Advertising Standards Council of India