GM Crops+Pesticides+Herbicides = Sure Death+Destruction

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Poisoning The PlanetMiguel A. AltieriResurgence No. 254 May/June 2009.http://www..resurgence.org/magazine/article2803-Poisoning-The-Planet.htmlIN

2007, GENETICALLY modified (GM) crops were grown on 114.3 million

hectares worldwide. Of the twenty-three countries which grow GM crops,

Argentina and Brazil are the major players in South America, though the

cultivation of transgenic crops is also expanding in Bolivia and

Paraguay. The biotech industry claims that GM crops have met the

expectations of millions of farmers in developing countries, delivering

benefits to consumers and society through more affordable food that

requires less pesticides to grow and hence leads to more sustainable

farming.What corporations fail to mention is that Roundup Ready

(RR) soybean accounts for 70% of all GM crops and is tolerant to

Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, glyphosate. Much of the soybean crop is

grown by large-scale farmers for biodiesel and for export as animal

feed to China and Europe. The impacts of soybean expansion in South

America go beyond the typical effects of monocultures heavily sprayed

with herbicides, but include deforestation, soil fertility mining, food

insecurity and the expulsion of small farmers, thus exacerbating rural

conflicts.The expansion of soybean farming is accompanied by

massive transportation infrastructure projects that lead to the

destruction of natural habitats over wide areas, well beyond the

deforestation directly caused by soybean cultivation. In Brazil,

soybean profits justified the improvement or construction of industrial

waterways, railway lines and an extensive network of roads. These in

turn have attracted logging, mining, ranching and other practices with

severe impacts on biodiversity. The Rosario region on the Paran� River

in Argentina has become the largest soya agro-industrial processing

area in the world, with all the environmental impacts that such

infrastructure entails.Soybean occupies the largest area of any

crop in Brazil (14.5 million hectares). In Argentina about 16 million

hectares are devoted to soybean, and the total production is more than

40 million tonnes. In Paraguay soybeans occupy more than 25% of all

agricultural land. Soya cultivation has already resulted in the

deforestation of 21 million hectares of forests in Brazil, 14 million

hectares in Argentina, 2 million hectares in Paraguay and 600,000

hectares in Bolivia. In response to global market pressure for

biofuels, Brazil alone will likely clear an additional 60 million

hectares of land in the near future to grow more soybean for biodiesel,

and sugar cane for ethanol.Soybean expansion also leads to

extreme land and income disparity. In Brazil, soybean cultivation

displaces eleven agricultural workers for every one who finds

employment in the sector. Yearly, millions of people are displaced by

soybean production, and these landless people move to the Amazon and

other regions, where they clear pristine forests. In Argentina the

situation is quite dramatic, as 60,000 farms went out of business while

the area of GM soybean almost tripled. In one decade, the area of

soybean cultivation increased by 126% at the expense of dairy, maize,

wheat and fruit production. For the country, this means more imports of

basic foods, creating a loss of food sovereignty, and for poor small

farmers and consumers, only increased food prices and more hunger.AS

THE CULTIVATION of soybean rapidly expands, so does glyphosate use. In

southern Brazil, for every kilo reduction of non-glyphosate herbicide

during the period of expansion of GM soybean cultivation, the use of

glyphosate increased by 7.5 kilos. In Argentina, Roundup applications

reached the equivalent of an estimated 160 million litres in the 2004

growing season, and herbicide usage is expected to increase as weeds

start developing resistance to Roundup.A recent study by

Brazilian researchers found thirteen weed species that have developed

resistance to glyphosate. In Argentina, resistant biotypes of Johnson

grass, Ipomoea species and other weeds are also emerging, creating a

typical treadmill in which glyphosate generates weeds that are harder

to control, in turn requiring increased amounts of other herbicides

such as 2,4-D. Instead of reducing the need for agrochemicals as

proponents once claimed, GM technology has increased their use.Biotech

companies claim that herbicides should not pose negative effects on

humans or the environment. In practice, however, the large-scale

planting of GM crops encourages aerial application of herbicides and

only 1% of what is sprayed reaches the crop - the rest ends up in the

soil and water. The agribusiness companies contend that glyphosate

degrades rapidly in the soil, does not accumulate in ground water, has

no effects on non-target organisms, and leaves no residue in foods and

water or soil, yet glyphosate has been reported to be toxic to some

non-target species in the soil including beneficial predators such as

spiders, mites, carabid and coccinellid beetles, detritivores such as

earthworms, and mycorrhizae and other microfauna, as well as to aquatic

organisms including microbial communities, frogs and fish.Research

has shown that glyphosate seems to act in a similar fashion to

antibiotics, altering soil biology in as yet unknown ways and causing

effects such as reduction of the ability of soybeans, clover and other

legumes to fix nitrogen, and the rendering of bean plants more

vulnerable to disease. During the first year of glyphosate application

on RR soya, a severe sudden death syndrome epidemic occurred (an

infection by the fungus Fusarium solani) in several RR cultivars,

resulting in reduction of the growth of beneficial soil-dwelling

mycorrhizal fungi, and other changes to the microbial community.All

these effects can alter nutrient cycling and other important processes

in the soil, thus reducing plant growth and health. In a study using

outdoor tanks, researchers found that even when applied at

concentrations that are just a third of the maximum recommended

concentrations, glyphosate killed 98% of all tadpoles within three

weeks and 79% of all frogs within one day.Researchers have also

shown that the reduction of weed biomass and flowering and seeding

parts under herbicide-resistant crop management causes changes in

insect availability with knock-on effects resulting in abundance

reduction of several beetles, butterflies and bees. Counts of

predacious carabid beetles that feed on weed seeds were smaller in

transgenic crop fields. The number of invertebrates that are food for

mammals, birds and other invertebrates were also found to be generally

lower in herbicide-resistant crop fields. The absence of flowering

weeds in transgenic fields can have serious consequences for

pollinators but also for pests� natural enemies, which require pollen

and nectar for survival; this in turn can lead to enhanced insect pest

problems.THE EXPANSION OF soybean monoculture threatens the

ecological integrity and food sovereignty of countries as well as the

rights of Indigenous and rural communities. This industrial

agricultural model violates economic, social, cultural and

environmental rights and, as it expands, its destructive methods of

operation degrade the environment through deforestation, soil erosion

and contamination of water bodies and push farmers out of their lands,

resulting in rural migration and further impoverishment of rural

populations. The soya agro-industry is actually expanding and becoming

stronger through the growing markets for pro-cessed foods, industrial

livestock and the production of biodiesel demanded by the North.Rural

social movements such as Via Campesina and Movimiento Socialista de

Trabajadores (MST) reject corporate attempts for continual expansion of

GM soya monoculture. Farmers� mobilisations have led to destruction of

soybean fields and occupation of corporate facilities. For example,

Syngenta Seeds� experimental research centre in Paran� was taken over

by MST in March 2006 after they discovered that the company was

illegally growing GM soybeans within the boundary zone of Igua�u

National Park.The expansion of agricultural biotechnology into

South America is exacerbating agrarian conflicts and historic tensions

over land. More mobilisation of rural movements can be expected, as the

�grassroots� oppose the advance of biofuel agribusiness and GM

technology. Industrial farming threatens biodiversity and native seed

varieties, violating the rights of consumers and small farmers by

contaminating conventional and organic crops.If consumers in

the North of the world want to continue enjoying their fair trade

coffee and bananas, as well as the �- good, clean and fair food - from

the South, they had better find ways to directly support these

grassroots mobilisations, otherwise small farmers and the food they

grow are in danger of genetic pollution and possible extinction.This is an edited extract from The Slow Food Almanac 2008.www.slowfood.comMiguel A. Altieri is a lecturer in agroecology at the University of California, USA.These (scientific) studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food consumption including infertility, immune dysregulation, accelerated aging, dysregulation of genes associated with cholesterol synthesis,insulin regulation, cell signaling, and protein formation, and changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system. Because GM foods pose a serious health risk, the AAEM believes that it is imperative to

adopt the precautionary principle. - American Academy of Environmental Medicine.

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