imposed on specialist doctors. According to the Department of Inland Revenue, only 6,000 out of the 39,000 registered doctors pay income tax. With the Rajapaksa's return to power in 2019 the GMOA and Padeniya were major endorsers of the transition to organic agriculture ignoring scientific evidence and pushing mythical claims of ancient Sri Lankans having lifespans of 140 years blaming the decline to modern agricultural technology as well as spreading claims of Sri Lankans being the largest consumer of what he described as "poison". However experts including Rohan Pethiyagoda had criticized the claims noting the claims by GMOA were not backed by data and had no basis in fact or science. Data showed that Sri Lanka was in fact using the lowest amounts of fertiliser and pesticides per unit area in the region with in addition to a reduction in the use of Class 1 pesticide by 98% and Class 2 by 29% between 2002 and 2016. As a result GMOA was accused of engaging in Lysenkoism with Padeniya being called the "local Lysenko". However with the beginning of the agricultural crisis and the worsening of the Sri Lankan economic crisis the GMOA began to distance itself from the policies even claiming Padeniya being a member of the committee that oversaw the transition to organic agriculture was irrelevant. See also Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) References External links Official website 1926 establishments in Ceylon Medical associations based in Sri Lanka Healthcare trade unions Trade unions established in 1926 Trade unions in Sri Lanka Politics of Sri Lanka