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Agriculture | 10 February, 2009 [ 12:38 ]

Peru Organico concerned about Monsanto's genetically engineered seeds


Living in Peru
Israel Ruiz

As Monsanto Company, a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation begins to gain more and more support from Peruvian authorities, citizens and grass roots organizations are beginning to speak out and express their concern.

Peru Organico is one of these organizations that are extremely worried that the country's citizens have no idea of what Monsanto is and what it could do to Peru's organic products.

The organization has affirmed that the majority of Peruvians do not even have an idea of what transgenic seeds are and how serious their threat is if they are sold in the Andean country.

"Each one of us must protect our rich organic products against Monsanto," said Jorge Mora.

"This multinational is the largest in the genetic modification of seeds and not only wants to contaminate our agriculture but also patent Peru's organic products."

According to Mora, Monsanto has gained the support of many, including the dean of Peru's School of Biologists, Ernesto Bustamante.

Representatives from the multinational met with President Alan Garcia in 2007 and expressed interest in producing seeds in Peru.

The company has also carried out feasibility studies in Peru's highlands.



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8 Comments

# Caire says :
10 February, 2009 [ 19:13 ]

This is VERY alarming.  Surely Peruvians won't permit this to happen to their gorgeous vegetables!

Monsanto is a plague spreading across the earth and must be stopped.

Say NO GRACIAS to Monsanto!!!

# Charlie N says :
10 February, 2009 [ 23:28 ]

I have seen first hand how the Monsanto seeds have changed the American farmer.   Sure the seeds may increase the production amount per acre, and may help the plant(s) resist desease, but there is something incidious about using genitically modified seeds. 

In the US, genetically modified seeds are considered property of the company that created them and are patented.  This means that the crops, seeds, etc. are property of the company.  The farmer must sign contracts on a yearly basis with the company that gives tem the right to inspect/regulate the growing an harvesting of these products.  It has been common practice for farmers to reserve some of the planted acreage to go to seed for next year.   Do that with GM seeds and you get a lawsuit - share a little with your neighbor - lawsuit.


Bottom line I think this is a bad thing

# Jet says :
11 February, 2009 [ 02:13 ]

Hopefully many educated Peruvians will do research about Monsanto and it's evil agenda against humanity. It's not hard to find, just search the internet. Monsanto's represents the worst of the worst of America and is quickly trying to spread like cancer across the globe with it's end goal of controlling all of the worlds food stock and seed thru genetic manipulation and thru drestroying organic and natural farming by cross contamination that occurs naturally when Monsanto genetically modified organisms are allowed in to a country, and corrupts the natural domestic variety of crops.  Peruvians, do your research! Then contact your local and national leaders and demand that Monsanto and its GMO's be kept out of the country.  And trust me... if the article suggests that "suddenly" local and national officials are warming up to Monsanto, it's because they are being offered kick backs or straight out bribes.  Please see how Monsanto has operated in other countries that they've managed to bribe their way in to.

# Jet says :
11 February, 2009 [ 03:07 ]

Monsanto fined $1.5 million by the U.S. for bribing foreign government officials.

In January of 2005, Monsanto was fined $1.5 million by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The SEC claims Monsanto gave a $50,000 bribe to a high-level Indonesian Ministry of Environment official to overturn an environmental impact assessment law preventing the sale of bioengineered crops in Indonesia, which he subsequently did. Furthermore, the SEC stated that “…from 1997 to 2002, Monsanto inaccurately recorded, or failed to record, in its books and records approximately $700,000 of illegal of questionable payments made to various Indonesian government officials.”

Monsanto  named one of the "Most Wanted Corporate Human Rights Violators of 2005" by Global Exchange.

 - Monsanto was named one of the "Most Wanted Corporate Human Rights Violators of 2005" by Global Exchange, an organization that promotes social justice around the world.

-- Global Exchange, 06/27/1905

Monsanto promotes mono-culture—the practice of covering large swaths of land with a single crop. This practice pushes out subsistence farms and destroys arable land by drastically decreasing soil and water quality for years, draining soil of key nutrients. The company also undercuts food prices by flooding countries like Mexico, India, and Brazil with cheap, genetically modified foods, resulting in the displacement of millions of farm workers, who are forced to migrate to cities or work as landless peasants or share croppers.

Monsanto is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed as "Roundup." Roundup is sold to small farmers as a pesticide, yet harms crops in the long run as the toxins accumulate in the soil. Plants eventually become infertile, forcing farmers to purchase genetically modified Roundup Ready Seed, a seed that resists the herbicide. This creates a cycle of dependency on Monsanto for both the weed killer and the only seed that can resist it. Both products are patented, and sold at inflated prices.

Roundup Ultra, a version of the pesticide that is unavailable on the commercial market, is regularly employed in fumigation of areas of illicit crop production. However, as it destroys fields of drug plants, it also destroys subsistence crops like banana, palm heart, and coffee. Exposure to the pesticide is documented to cause cancers, skin disorders, spontaneous abortions, premature births, and damage to the gastrointestinal and nervous systems.

According to the India Committee of the Netherlands and the International Labor Rights Fund, Monsanto also employs child labor. In India, an estimated 12,375 children work in cottonseed production for farmers paid by Indian and multinational seed companies, including Monsanto. A number of children have died or became seriously ill due to exposure to pesticides.

Monsanto's yearly profits are $5.4 billion.

 

# A-KID says :
11 February, 2009 [ 06:55 ]

Say NO to MOSANTO! PLEASE GO AWAY!

# omar says :
11 February, 2009 [ 19:04 ]

la pqagina tiene unas acotacionesz sis mejorarian el cocontenido  seria mejor lo q correspo0nde alos alimentos transgenicos

# J.C.Vilca says :
4 March, 2009 [ 01:16 ]

Ah, as if decades of mandatory intake of sodium flouride tablets in public schools wasn't enough for the deteriorating health of Peruvians, now this. Why it took so long for Monsanto to set up shop in Peru to make its deliveries of death much more frequent, I'll never know.

Monsanto go home! [And the Garcia people along with them.]

Yell

# jcwong says :
4 March, 2009 [ 03:42 ]

El mundo según Monsanto
Robin, Marie-Monique
Precio:   S/. 73.00Editorial Península
ISBN 9788483078402
Edición Barcelona, 2008
Páginas 528
Formato 15 x 23 cm.


Disponibilidad: Salida habitual de almacén en 24 horas*

Tiempo y Costo de Envío
Envía a un amigo
Comenta este libro
Agrega a Mis Deseos
Imprime esta página
 
 Sinopsis    Con una destacada presencia en más de 46 países y unos beneficios impresionantes, Monsanto se ha convertido en la empresa líder de los organismos genéticamente modificados (OGM), así como en una de las compañías más controvertidas de la industria mundial por la fabricación de PCB (piraleno), devastadores herbicidas (como el agente naranja durante la guerra de Vietnam) o la hormona de crecimiento bovino (prohibida en Europa).
Desde 1901, fecha de su fundación, la empresa de Missouri ha ido acumulando infinidad de procesos penales debido a la toxicidad de sus productos, aunque hoy se presenta como una empresa de «ciencias de la vida» reconvertida a las virtudes del desarrollo sostenible. Gracias a la comercialización de las semillas transgénicas (más del 90% del mercado mundial), Monsanto no sólo controla una parte importante de la alimentación mundial y la forma en que se produce, sino que pretende extender su poder sobre las formas de vida tradicionales de una parte importante del planeta.
Basándose en documentos inéditos, testimonios de afectados y víctimas, campesinos, reconocidos científicos y destacados políticos, El mundo según Monsanto reconstruye la génesis y desarrollo de este gigante industrial, la primera productora mundial de semillas, una empresa que según declaran sus responsables «sólo quiere nuestro bienestar».


http://www.amazon.com/World-According-Monsanto-Marie-Monique-Robin/dp/1595584269/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236155565&sr=8-1


The World According to Monsanto (Hardcover)
by Marie-Monique Robin (Author)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

List Price: $26.95 
Price: $17.79 & eligible for FREE Super Saver 
 


 On March 11 a new documentary was aired on French television (ARTE – French-German cultural tv channel) by French journalist and film maker Marie-Monique Robin, The World According to Monsanto - A documentary that you won’t see on American television. The gigantic biotech corporation Monsanto is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years.
http://wideeyecinema.com/?p=105

Banned In America - French Documentary Film Pulled from YouTube and Google
http://www.opednews.com/articles/life_a_pamela_d_080426_banned_in_america___.htm

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