Glyphosate and GMO soy, the massacre in Argentina. #Buycott!

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Published by Dario Dongo and Giulia Caddeo on 2th November 2019

Glyphosate, a success story

Il glyphosate it is the most widely used herbicide on a planetary level. In agriculture as well as in the maintenance of vegetable gardens and gardens, both urban and domestic. It is a non-selective preparation, that is, it kills any plant other than those whose DNA has been specially manipulated to resist it. Such as GMO corn and soybeans, whose widespread diffusion is precisely functional to the trade in agro-toxicants.

The global market of pesticides - as documented in the free ebook 'GMO, the Big Scam'- in fact it is worth three times that of seeds. And both of these markets are dominated by the four planetary monopolists, le Big 4.

GMO soybeans and glyphosate in Argentina

GMO soy it was introduced in Argentina in 1996 by Monsanto, which still held the patent for glyphosate. And it quickly spread to land previously used for cattle grazing and orchards. As well as in areas occupied by primary forests that have been and still are razed to the ground to make room for new breeding areas and the monoculture in question.

The crops, according to data from the Ministry of Economy, they have expanded in a few years, from 5 to 25 million hectares. To the point that GM soybeans now excel in agricultural production - accounting for 60% of arable land - and the country's exports. And the consumption of agrotoxicants has increased exponentially, + 1.600%. Up to approximately 500 million liters / year. With an average per capita exposure of about 11 liters / year, which increases considerably in agricultural areas.

Glyphosate and health, the Argentine case

Some scientists, like the biochemist Horacio Lucero, already at the end of the 90s they asked the government to organize special monitoring of the health of the populations of some provinces of the country. After collecting alarming data on pesticide residues in the blood of exposed people. But the alarms were overlooked by the investigative commissions which were dissolved shortly after the opening. (1)

In provinces like that of Chaco - still today subject of conflicts on land and deforestation in the name of GMO beef and soybeans - there was in fact a significant increase (+ 400%) in birth defects. A 2010 ministerial report also refers to the marked prevalence of spontaneous abortions, cancers (almost doubled, in some areas, compared to the national average) and allergies. As well as the appearance of rare diseases that occur with scales and spots on the skin.

Glyphosate in Argentina, the renewed alarm

The medical-scientific community in Argentina continues to denounce that the cases of malformations, abortions, cancer and leukemia in children and young people - in populations exposed to glyphosate - have increased up to four times. (5)

'It is indisputable that glyphosate, crossing the placental barrier and increasing retinoic acid four or five times, produces malformations in the embryo. But glyphosate is also associated with a significant increase in leukemia cases in children under the age of 15'(Andres Carrasco, University of Buenos Aires, head of the molecular embryology laboratory).

The scientific study National University of Río Cuarto in Cordoba, published in theArgentina Journal of Pediatrics as of April 2015, it found a significant difference between the cells of children exposed to chemicals in rural areas and the urban control group. One month earlier, the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer, WHO) had included glyphosate in the category of potentially carcinogenic substances. But this was not enough to obtain the application of the precautionary principle, to protect public health and that of children in particular.

Initiatives and hopes to mitigate the massacre

In Argentina the protection of the territory is entrusted to the provincial administrations. (3) The safety distances - that is, the limit between fumigation areas and inhabited centers - are defined as 200, 500 or 1500 meters, depending on the provinces. Although often violated. (4) While in Italy, please note, the ministry of health has considered that 15 meters (!) away from the houses are enough, in theobscene draft by Peter PAN (National Action Plan for pesticides).

A network of associations and researchers proposed an innovative political project to the newly elected president, Alberto Fernández. (5) Reduce pesticides in Argentine agriculture and animal husbandry, with an intervention on two levels:

- qualitative and quantitative restrictions on the use of agro-toxic substances and homogeneous suitable safety distances throughout the country, (6)

- incentives for the voluntary transition to agroecology. To be financed through a levy (0,2%) on agricultural exports. (7)

In Brazil - where the massacre of agrotoxicants is also in progress, as seen - medical organizations such as Abrasco , Pediatric Society they are in turn proposing a law to reduce the use of pesticides.

Sign the #Buycott petition!

In our own little way, in the meantime we can join the #Buycott campaign! GMO soy, American meats and palm oil. The international demand for these commodities must be cut down to force the supply to be changed. Stop consumption to change the system. That's enough! land robberies, deforestations and poisons.

Sign and spread the petition, its https://www.egalite.org/buycott-petizione/

Dario Dongo and Giulia Caddeo

Note

(1) See Por Soledad Barruti, The shortcomings of the fumigation, Gatopardo, 29.3.16, https://gatopardo.com/reportajes/contaminacion-glifosato-argentina/

(2) Lucia Maina, Por la vida: propose a National Plan of Reducción de Uso de Agrotóxicos, La Tinta, 29.8.19

(3) As of March 2010, the Santa Fe Chamber of Civil and Commercial Appeals banned the use of agricultural chemicals within 800 meters from the city of San Jorge

V. Laura Bags, Ordenanza prohíbe the use and application of glyphosate in the city of Santa Fe, La Izquierda Diary, 15.9.18,

See also Roberto Andrés, Gobierno de Vidal habilitó fumigar with agrotóxicos en escuelas rurales starting from 1 ° de enero, La Izquierda Diary, 21.12.18,

(4) See note 1

(5) These include the university network of environment and health (REDUAS), the federal network of teachers for life, the national network of municipalities and communities that promote agroecology (RENAMA). In addition to educational spaces such as the UBA School of Nutrition, collectives and NGOs from Entre Ríos, Santa Fe, Chaco and Buenos Aires fighting fumigation

(6) The emblem of this struggle is Fabian Tomasi, a native of Basavilbaso, who died at the age of 53 after 10 years of polyneuropathy. Tomasi started working for one at the age of 23 farm in the region of Entre Rios (Center-East). With the role of filling the aircraft tanks with glyphosate and other agrotoxicants to be sprayed on the GMO soybean fields. A few months before his death, the former agricultural worker had given an eloquent interview to Agence France-Presse, up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaJk4oCFnZc

(7) Another emblematic example is that of Sabrina Ortiz, one of the founders of collective Madres de Barrios Fumigados de Pergaminon. Her children have blood glyphosate values 100-120 times higher than the average and have undergone several chemotherapy treatments. She herself has suffered two ischemic attacks due to the neurotoxic substances she has in her body. V. Cauce, Cultura Ambiental Ecologist Cause http://cauceecologico.org/?p=1282 e Pergamino: militantes of the # SíSePuede agredieron in Madres de Barrios Fumigados, Codigo Baires, 17.10.19

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