Argentina: The Country That Monsanto Poisoned
American biotechnology has turned Argentina
into the world’s third-largest soybean producer, but the chemicals
powering the boom aren’t confined to soy and cotton and corn fields.
They routinely contaminate homes and classrooms and drinking water. A
growing chorus of doctors and scientists is warning that their
uncontrolled use could be responsible for the increasing number of
health problems turning up in hospitals across the South American
nation. In the heart of Argentina’s soybean business, house-to-house
surveys of 65,000 people in farming communities found cancer rates two
to four times higher than the national average, as well as higher rates
of hypothyroidism and chronic respiratory illnesses. Associated Press
photographer Natacha Pisarenko spent months documenting the issue in
farming communities across Argentina.
Most provinces in Argentina forbid spraying pesticides and other agrochemicals next
to homes and schools, with bans ranging in distance from 50 meters to
as much as several kilometers from populated areas. The Associated Press
found many cases of soybeans planted only a few feet from homes and
schools, and of chemicals mixed and loaded onto tractors inside
residential neighborhoods. In the last 20 years, agrochemical spraying
has increased eightfold in Argentina- from 9 million gallons in 1990 to
84 million gallons today. Glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s
Round Up products, is used roughly eight to ten times more per acre than
in the United States. Yet Argentina doesn’t apply national standards
for farm chemicals, leaving rule-making to the provinces and enforcement
to the municipalities. The result is a hodgepodge of widely ignored
regulations that leave people dangerously exposed.
via denverpost.com
