[sustran] Jatropha seeds make children ill, etc.

[Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory]

Hi guys and gals,

More on Jetropha, Sh-tropha...

Forwarded from Biofuel Watch, a Yahoo! Groups group

- T

1. 
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/22_children_hospitalised_after_consuming_jatropha_seeds_/rssarticleshow/3922068.cms 
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/22_children_hospitalised_after_consuming_jatropha_seeds_/rssarticleshow/3922068.cms>

22 children hospitalised after consuming jatropha seeds 1 Jan 2009, 1454 
hrs IST, IANS

RAIPUR: At least 22 children, all less than eight years old, were 
admitted to hospital in serious condition in Chhattisgarh after 
consuming seeds of

the poisonous jatropha plant which is being grown on a large scale to 
extract bio-fuel, police said Thursday. "As many as 22 children of Durg 
town were rushed to the district government hospital in a serious 
condition after they mistakenly consumed jatropha seeds grown in a local 
field late Wednesday," Dipanshu Kabra, district superintendent of 
police, said. Durg town, located some 40 km from state capital Raipur, 
is in Durg district.The officer said: "The kids are showing signs of 
improvement and doctors have said they are out of danger, but they have 
all been kept under observation.
" Jatropha is a plant that grows up to three metres and produces 
inedible fruits. Several states, including Chhattisgarh, have been 
planting its saplings in millions in a bid to extract bio-fuel from it. 
Some agricultural scientists say large-scale jatropha plantations are 
becoming a curse for children as just two of its seeds are enough to act 
as a strong purgative while four to five seeds can cause death.


2. 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/01/avaition-biofuel-letter 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/01/avaition-biofuel-letter>

Letters
Bumpy take-off for aviation biofuel

The Guardian, Thursday 1 January 2009
Article history

In your article on the biofuel test flight (Jatropha-fuelled plane, 30 
December), you rightly covered environmentalists' caution over biofuel. 
However, you also seem remarkably trusting of Air New Zealand's claims. 
You say: "The search for an environmentally friendly fuel for airplanes 
took a leap forward today with the world's first flight powered by a 
second-generation biofuel, derived from plants that do not compete with 
food crops ... harvested from trees grown on marginal land in India, 
Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania."
There is nothing "second-generation" about jatropha, except that it is 
inedible; the oil is lipids, as with other biodiesel feedstocks. Air NZ 
says it requires that "the quality of the soil and climate is such that 
the land is not suitable for the vast majority of food crops". This 
could still mean that it has displaced livestock or some hardier crops. 
Jatropha projects are acquiring a track record of displacing existing 
farmsteads in Africa and south Asia, with improper treatment of local 
farming communities.
This means that we do not know if substitution of kerosene fuel with 
jatropha is helping find an environmentally friendly fuel at all, in 
view of the competition it may be setting up with other land uses; or 
whether it is merely a distraction from other more worthwhile directions 
to take.Jim Roland, London

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Todd Edelman
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