Contrary to biotech industry propaganda, genetically modified (GM) crops have not reduced the use of toxic agrochemicals. In fact, they are causing an increase in their use, according to the organization RAPAL-Uruguay.

The organization points to the cases of Brazil and Uruguay. In a recent newsletter, the organization provided data that was presented by the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency during a seminar on toxic Agro-toxins, Health, and Society held in Brasilia in July. "Brazil is one of the major consumers of agro-toxins in the world. GM soy crops have increased its use of such products, followed by corn, sugar cane, and cotton. In 2008 the Brazilian market consumed 673,862 tons of such products; this proves - contrary to industry
propaganda - that GM crops increase the use of agro-toxins."

Uruguay is in a similar situation, maintains RAPAL. According to data obtained by the organization from the Uruguayan government, between 2002 and 2008, imports of herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides increased by 258%. In 2002, Uruguay imported 5,336 tons and in 2008, 13,770 tons of toxic agrochemicals were used on various crops, but mainly in GM soy.

"Businesses that sell GM seeds are the same ones that sell agro-toxins, which means their profits are doubled," concludes RAPAL-Uruguay. "Our population also suffers from the impacts of this doubled profit; of course from our point of view these are negative impacts: the use of massive agro-toxins contaminates the soil and water. This is a domineering model that displaces small family farms and endangers apiculture and small scale fisheries."

The small number of transnational corporations that control the GM market, which includes Monsanto, BASF, Bayer, Dow, and Dupont, are the same world leaders in the production of pesticides.

Argentina: A Catastrophe Called Soy
"After 13 years of expansion in the cultivation of GM soy in Argentina, the socio-environmental consequences are a real catastrophe," reports the organization GRAIN. Argentina dedicates nearly 44.5 million acres of farmland to soy cultivation-more than half of the agricultural land in the country. Practically all of the soy seeds in the country are of the GM Roundup Ready (RR) variety, created by the American corporation Monsanto to resist Roundup, an herbicide also produced by Monsanto.

Apart from the toxicity of Roundup, another problem caused by its use is the rise of resistant "super weeds" such as Ipomoea Purpurea (Morning Glory), Verbena Litoralis (Verbena), and Hybanthus Parviflorus (Violetilla), a problem recognized by the vice president of Mosanto. The cultivation of RR soy also uses a large quantity of other toxic agrochemicals such as 2,4-D, atrazine, and endosulfan. "As a result, the chemicals have seriously affected the health of both people and domestic animals, damaged food crops, and contaminated the soil, water courses, and the air," says GRAIN.

This type of agriculture has a devastating effect on nature. Each year the cost to the Argentine environment includes: one million tons of nitrogen and 160,000 tons of phosphorous, 42,500 million cubic meters of water, and the felling of almost 500,000 acres of native forests.

"Argentina was used by Monsanto as a gateway for the expansion of GMOs into the rest of the southern cone. For six years a small group of Brazilian consumers and environmentalists fought doggedly in the courts to keep GMOs out of their country, but their battle was fatally undermined by the smuggling of RR soya over the frontier from Argentina. Seduced by the extravagant promises made by salesmen, Brazilian farmers bought the illegal seeds on such a scale that the official ban on GMOs became meaningless and was revoked by President
Lula. Similar tactics were used to spread RR soya into Paraguay and Bolivia. The RR soya frenzy, which is turning the southern cone into what has been called the 'Republic of Soya,' has led to no increase in productivity, despite all the promises made by the salesmen."

GRAIN concludes that "the weak attempts made by fragile Latin American democracies to put some limit on the dominant economic power created by two decades of globalization and the imposition of neoliberal economic policies have encountered a major roadblock in the contemptible alliance between large landowners and agribusiness corporations that are taking brutal action in all countries of the southern cone."

Source:
http://www.rapaluruguay.org/agrotoxicos/Uruguay/multinacionales_marcan_paso..html
http://www.grain.org/biodiversidad/?id=445
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=578

For more information:
http://bioseguridad.blogspot.com/search/label/Argentina
http://bioseguridad.blogspot.com/search/label/Uruguay

(CIP Americas Program's Biodiversity Report, ed. Carmelo Ruiz Marrero, August 2009)