Questions raised throughout South America regarding use and abuse of agrochemicals.

AutorGaudin, Andres

What began as a straight-forward journalistic investigation into modern farming practices in Argentina has turned into something of a regional rallying cry for critics of the US-based firm Monsanto and other large multinational agricultural firms involved in the production of genetically modified (transgenic) seeds and potent agrochemicals, which tend to be used hand in hand with those seeds.

The article in question--written and researched by Associated Press (AP) reporters Michael Warren and Natacha Pisarenko--was published on Oct. 20 with a dateline from Basavilbaso, in the eastern Argentine province of Entre Rios. There, transgenic soybean plantations have replaced the traditional farms started by Jewish and Italian immigrants who founded the city in the late 1800s. The article's appearance coincides with a growing movement in South America against Monsanto, a US company based in St. Louis, Missouri. Critics worry about the adverse effects Monsanto products such as Roundup --a powerful and widely used herbicide made with the chemical glyphosate--could be having on humans, animals, plant life, water supplies, and the environment in general.

Monsanto made use of a follow up article--published two days after the scathing report went public--to respond to the AP's claims. The company criticized the Warren and Pisarenko piece as being "overbroad" and insisted that "glyphosate is safe." Monsanto also urged Argentina to better control how the company's products are used. "If pesticides are being misused in Argentina, then it is in everyone's best interests--the public, the government, farmers, industry, and Monsanto--that the misuse be stopped," the company insisted.

A large testing ground

Monsanto has attracted criticism throughout Latin America, including in Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Panama. But it has come under particular fire in Argentina, where it decided to build a transgenic seed plant in the central province of Cordoba. Monsanto's special relationship with the country dates back to the mid-1990s (NotiSur, Feb. 27, 2004). Through a deal signed in 1996, the multinational was able to turn Argentina into a vast laboratory in which farmers--too excited about the generous harvests that resulted to worry about potential long term problems--began planting more and more genetically modified seeds and using copious amounts of defoliating herbicides, namely Roundup.

Despite warnings from experts all over the world, the...

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