Haiti GMO
Haitian Farmers Reject
Monsanto Donation
The Peasant Movement of Papay, a group of Haitian farmers, has committed to burning 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn and vegetable seeds donated by Monsanto in the wake of the devastating earthquake earlier this year.
Peasant Movement of Papay leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste called Monsanto’s donation “a new earthquake” and called for a march to protest the corporation’s presence in Haiti for World Environment Day.
The National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay sent an open letter on May 14 signed by Jean-Baptiste. The letter called Monsanto’s presence in Haiti, “a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds…, and on what is left of our environment in Haiti.”
In addition to MPNKP and MPP, other Haitian social movements have advocated in opposition to agribusiness imports of seeds and food. The groups have expressed strong concern regarding the importation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as they undermine local production of local seed stocks.
Haitian law does not prohibit the use of GMOs within the country, but the Ministry of Agriculture rejected Monsanto’s offer to donate Roundup Ready seeds. As a result of these actions, a representative from Monsanto responded to the Ministry of Agriculture via email to assure that donated seeds would not be GMO.
Monsanto is internationally known for aggressively pushing its seed products, specifically GMO seeds. The use of seeds also usually includes highly restrictive technology agreements between the company and farmers, who groups opposed to the use of GMOs claim are not always fully made aware of what they are signing. GMO-opposed groups claim that by signing these agreements, small farmers are forced to buy Monsanto seeds each year under conditions they often find onerous and at high costs that they cannot afford.
The corn seed product Monsanto donated to Haiti has been treated with the fungicide Maxim XO, while the calypso tomato seeds were treated with thiram. Thiram is a highly toxic chemical belonging to the ethylene bisdithiocarbamates (EBDCs) class. Upon U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tests on the EBDC’s, the EPA deemed any EBDC-treated plants so dangerous to agricultural workers, that they are now mandated to wear protective clothing when handling them.
The EPA ruled that pesticides that contain thiram must have a special warning label. In addition, the EPA also banned marketing of aforementioned chemicals for home garden products as it is assumed that most home gardeners do not own adequately protective clothing.
Social movements in Haiti consider the offer from Monsanto detrimental to the local economy. “People in the U.S. need to help us produce, not give us food and seeds. They’re ruining our chance to support ourselves,” said farmer Jonas Deronzil of a peasant cooperative in the rural region of Verrettes.
Monsanto has been criticized for its role in environmental, health, and farming ills. The company’s Agent Orange caused cancer in a large number of U.S. Veterans. The Vietnamese government claims that 400,000 of their citizens were either killed or disabled as a result of Agent Orange, while 500,000 children were born with birth defects as a result of exposure.
Seed giants Syngenta, Dupont and Bayer, and Monsanto control more than half of the world’s seed patents. Monsanto retains almost 650 seed patents, most of which are for cotton, corn, and soy. The company also owns almost 30 percent of the share of all biotechnology research and development.
“Fighting hybrid and GMO seeds is critical to save our diversity and our agriculture,” Jean-Baptiste said in an interview in February. “We have the potential to make our lands produce enough to feed the whole population and even to export certain products. The policy we need for this to happen is food sovereignty, where the county has a right to define it own agricultural policies, to grow first for the family and then for local market, to grow healthy food in a way which respects the environment and Mother Earth.
Food Safety News
BY MICHELLE GREENHALGH | JUNE 7, 2010
Burn Monsanto Burn
The earthquake in Haiti will surely go down as one of the most terrible tragedies of the new century. Thousands of refugees have been left homeless, penniless, and starving.
Almost four months after the disaster that killed as many as 230,000 Haitians, up to a million more are still living in squalid tent cities devoid of potable water, food, and medical aid.
With a group of people this desperate, surely any offer of food aid would be welcomed with open arms...
But not if those supplies are coming from agricultural lightning-rod Monsanto.
Haitian peasant farming leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste has threatened to publicly burn 475 tons of hybrid corn and vegetable seeds from Monsanto's latest aid package. Monsanto Burning
To drive the anti-Monsanto message home, Jean-Baptiste's Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) has planned their fiery demonstration on June 4 — World Environment Day.
Critics of Monsanto's genetically modified seeds claim that there has not been proper long-term testing regarding the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for human consumption.
Farmers are especially concerned about Monsanto's encroachment into their livelihoods because Monsanto's patents restrict farmer's ability to reuse seeds.
That means farmers must purchase a new batch of seeds each time they plant a crop. With Monsanto GM seeds costing three times more than traditional ones, this poses obvious problems for poor farmers like those that comprise the MPP.
Haiti is certainly not the first country to fight back against Monsanto's agricultural practices.
Earlier this year, Green Chip Living wrote about Indian farmers who took to the streets and burned effigies to protest Monsanto's attempt at introducing genetically modified eggplant into the country.
There is also growing anger over Monsanto's potential role in the 200,000 Indian farmers who have committed suicide since 1997. Critics say the non-renewable nature of Monsanto's GM seeds create a "suicide economy" that drives these farmers to bankruptcy.
It is a fate that Haitian farmers are desperate to avoid, however dire their current situation may be.
The Haitian Ministry of Agricultural outright refused Monsanto's first offering of Round-Up Ready GMO seeds. After some negotiations, however, they did approve the shipment of Monsanto corn hybrid seeds, which were treated with Maxim XO, a fungicide.
Perhaps more alarming, the calypso tomato seeds included in the aid package were treated with thiram, part of a toxic chemical class known as ethylene bisdithiocarbamates (EBDCs).
An EPA study in rats concluded that exposure to thiram caused "weakness, ataxia, [and] varying degrees of hind limb paralysis." The agency went so far as to recommend that even workers handling EBDC-treated plants wear special clothing to protect themselves.
Not exactly the kind of thing you want genetically mutated into your crops...
But the bottom line, according to Jean Baptiste, is what Haiti needs isn't controversial aid packages — the nation needs long-term agricultural solutions.
"Fighting hybrid and GMO seeds is critical to save our diversity and our agriculture," Jean-Baptiste said in an interview in February.
"We have the potential to make our lands produce enough to feed the whole population and even to export certain products. The policy we need for this to happen is food sovereignty, where the county has a right to define it own agricultural policies, to grow first for the family and then for local market, to grow healthy food in a way which respects the environment and Mother Earth."
And as far as Jean Baptiste and the MPP are concerned, Monsanto has no place in Haiti's agricultural heritage.
Be Well,
Jimmy Mengel -
Friday, May 28th, 2010