Diseases caused by pesticides sparked protests - Monsanto in Argentina

Monsanto pesticides that cause birth defects and cancer in Argentina , according to a new report . In a farming community near Córdoba , residents said they had been poisoned by pesticides .Soybean fields .The Gatica family lived only fifty yards from fields planted with genetically engineered soybeans . Aircraft fly overhead on a regular basis , spraying crops with the herbicide glyphosate . Slowly , the entire periphery began to ache .
A transgenic soybean field near the city of Santa Fe , about 500 miles northwest of Buenos Aires ,Argentina is the third largest soybean producer in the worldThe introduction of patented seeds and chemicals has changed the Argentine agricultural sectorThe results are alarming . The water supply was polluted area , eighty percent of the children in the neighborhood have agrotoxins in their blood .At this time , a physician at the University of Buenos Aires - Andrés Carrasco - proving that the herbicide glyphosate can cause birth defects in vertebrates . In most cases , the fetus died before birth because of her disability ,
According to a new report from the Associated Press , there are similar cases recorded in the whole of Argentina . Monsanto herbicides and pesticides that drift into residential communities and seeps into water sources , farmers use chemicals without proper protective equipment and discarded pesticide containers used to store water and other agricultural goods .This report signals concern among doctors , who warn that chemicals may be the cause of increased cancer rates , birth defects and respiratory diseases . Cancer rates in Santa Fe reported two to four times higher than the national average . In the Chaco , birth defects quadrupled in ten years after biotechnology to improve yields is introduced .Monsanto respondsMonsanto , however , does not recognize the relationship between the way the chemicals used in the field and illnesses reported in the surrounding community  ,  the lack of reliable data makes it very difficult to establish trends in the incidence of disease and even more difficult to establish a causal relationship . To our knowledge there is no causal relationship was established .

Pesticides for food securityIn the mid 1990s , Monsanto introduced a soybean seeds engineered to resist herbicides . Argentine farmers quickly began using it in their field , which increases productivity and ultimately transform the country into a state urned into the world 's third largest soybean producing state . Although anti - pesticides and anti - GMO movement growing , many farmers remain convinced that Argentina's economic stability and future food security depends on the continued use of the Monsanto product .
César Soldano has farmed in the nearby provinces of Córdoba and Santiago del Estero for three decades . He grows soya and corn in the spring and summer , and wheat and garbanzo beans in the winter . Land where he now farms unproductive until he started using genetically modified soybeans and glyphosate herbicides .Farmer holding soy plant was opened in radius Copyright : Daniel Karmann dpa / LBYArgentina Soybeans are considered important for food supply as the global population growsSoldano drive around the fields , irrigation system describes and explains the current green shoots will soon be a garbanzo plant . Before the advent of glyphosate , he said , farming techniques cause erosion , depleted water supplies in the region , and polluting the environment with chlorine -based weedkillers , which has now been banned internationally .Soldano showed that soybean genetic engineering has also made a significant impact on the economy of Argentina . Nearly ten percent of the national budget comes from taxes on soybeans .The attack on the anti - pesticidesHodo Soy Beanery out in Oakland , California . In Hodo Soy plant 12,000 square feet , organically grown soy beans soaked , ground and boiled creating a rich soy milk is a natural coagulant calcium sulfate is added .Soybeans are widely used as animal feed , know and biodiesel
In a landmark case last year , soybean farmers and pilots found guilty of spraying herbicide fumigation dangerously close to residential areas , said Enrique Viale , president of the Argentine Association of Attorneys Environmentalist . " A court in Córdoba gave the verdict, for the first time , a farmer convicted of crimes with agrotoxins pollution , " said Viale . " The decision is a product of the struggle of the people , by women such as Sofía Gatica , by Mrs. Ituzaingó . 's Help and valuable as a precedent , but it is not commonly used . "Sofía Gatica said he wants the government to strictly control the activities of Argentine soybean farmers . He wants genetically modified soy and all associated chemicals banned - and multinational companies that sell them to leave Argentina . " Multinational companies come here to steal our land , to kick out the people who live in the land , to steal our water , and to sow death , " he said .But the world's population grows and soybeans from farms of Argentina is considered essential to ensure food security for the future - make the battle between the anti - GMO campaigns and soybean farmers is far from finished .