Agriculture workers in Argentina protest Monsanto pesticides

Residents in Argentina, along with workers who regularly come into contact with Monsanto's products, are calling for the suspension of the use of the company's pesticides, claiming they cause adverse health effects. They seek to promote local food and agriculture and "educate about the dangers of GMOs and Monsanto's products". They say GMOs pose serious health dangers.

Monsanto, a biotech company based in St. Louis, works to provide farmers with genetically modified seed that will allow them to produce more from their land "while conserving more of our world's natural resources such as water and energy".

The collection of groups protest against construction of the new plant in Argentina’s province of Cordoba have halted progress for months now, while they seek a permanent injunction based on health and environmental concerns.

There are growing concern among doctors, who warn that Monsanto chemicals may be the cause of rising cancer rates, birth defects and respiratory illness. Monsanto, however, does not acknowledge a relationship between the way chemicals are used in the fields and the illnesses reported in nearby communities.

Beyond halting work on the new plant, activists hope to gain support from the local and national government to eject Monsanto out of Argentina. That goal seems remote, though, considering the proliferation of Monsanto pesticides along with the company’s genetically modified crops.

Within the last few decades, Argentina has transformed itself into the world’s third-largest soy producer, almost all of which is genetically-modified seed. The crop is now the country’s most important export.

In the mid-1990s, Monsanto introduced soybean seeds engineered to resist herbicide. Argentine farmers were quick to start using it in their fields, which improved productivity and eventually turned the country into the urned the country into the world's third largest soy producing nation. Despite the growing anti-pesticide and anti-GMO movements, many farmers remain convinced that Argentina’s economic stability and future food security depends on the continued use of Monsanto’s products. voiceofrussia
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_15/Agriculture-workers-in-Argentina-protest-Monsanto-pesticides-6915/

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