Monsanto moves to tighten its control over Latin America

[nosmokes]

Seedcent development after this article was published was Hugo Chavez declaring a moratorium on GMO plantings in Venezuela, so there is at least an island of eco-sanity for now at least. say what you will about huguelito, but me, i believe he has the peasant's interest more at heart than any pol you can find in the states.
--###--

original-grain

Monsanto moves to tighten its control over Latin America

GRAIN

For the past two months, the Latin American press has been inundated with news of a fresh offensive by Monsanto in several Latin American countries. The US transnational corporation appears determined to complete the invasion of GM (genetically modified) crops throughout the continent and to crush the resistance that has arisen in response to the company’s attempt to control and dominate Latin American agriculture.

This time, the course along which Monsanto is rapidly and skilfully proceeding is to devise agreements with governments and some farmers’ organisations. Many are cooperating with Monsanto and following in the footsteps of the largest manufacturer of GM crops in the world.

Global opinion is increasingly hostile toward GM crops. Small-farmers’ organisations are denouncing the grave harm that ten years of GM crops have wrought in rural areas and on native seeds; informed consumers too are refusing, in growing numbers, to buy GM food. If Monsanto is to continue this GM invasion as in the past decade, it must promote the use of its seeds in more countries. If successful, the result will be the GM contamination of new land, the modification of laws to favour Monsanto, and increased pressure on farmers to pay royalties to Monsanto; all facilitated by willing participants in various governments and agricultural organisations. The inevitable outcome will be the imposition of these GM crops in Latin America.

In the past few weeks, we have seen a wide range of different initiatives taken at the local level which clearly illustrate Monsanto’s intentions:


• In Chile, on 26 March 2007, Monsanto and the Ministry of Agriculture announced that Monsanto has chosen Chile in which to plant up to 20,000 hectares of GM soya for seed production. Monsanto also announced its intention to introduce GM maize and GM oilseed rape (canola) in Chile. According to an interview in the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, the initiative has the full support of the Ministry of Agriculture. (1) Implicit in this initiative is the eventual GM contamination of Chile. Although the soya crop is being planted ostensibly for “seed production” only, there is no doubt that the GM soya will eventually contaminate other crops and food throughout the country. The fact that the proposal is moving ahead with the endorsement of the Ministry of Agriculture is cause for even greater concern.
~snip~
.
.
.
complete article here

[Cleita]

1. I'm sad.

They have already taken control of our food supply here in America too.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. South and Central America have a stop gap measure for unreasonable

capitalism. It's called socialism.

Don't you love Democratic elections?

[Greyhound]

2. I sense panic. Those MF'ers are losing their death grip

and it scares the shit out of them. Is freedom's future in South America?

[Cleita]

8. I think North America fears South Americas potential as

a giant world power as much as they covet it's assets and natural riches.

[bbgrunt]

3. everyone should read "Economic Hit Man" and "Seeds of Destruction"

[JohnyCanuck]

4. While they are at it, why not just let the fox "protect" the henhouse.

In Mexico, Monsanto and the National Confederation of Corn Producers (CNPAMM) signed an agreement giving Mexican producers easier access to biotechnology. Monsanto will also set up a fund “to protect the native varieties of Mexican corn”. (3) Through this one agreement, Monsanto achieves several objectives: it gains the cooperation of a farmers’ organisation; it takes a further step toward obtaining authorisation for GM maize, which is forbidden in Mexico; and it moves towards gaining access to hundreds of native varieties under the guise of “protecting” them.

[Vidar]

5. Nationalize Monsanto assets next, Hugo!

[GliderGuider]

6. Act Locally

Keep up the pressure on all fronts, people. You can join the Ban Terminator campaign.
Go to http://www.banterminator.org/ and click on Take Action.

The actions taken by Canadians have led to a private member's bill to stop our federal gov't from lifting the moratorium on Variety Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (V-GURTs) or "suicide seeds".

V-GURTs are all about protecting corporate profits at the expense of farmers and to ensure those corporations can suck every last penny out of their products and farmers. Even the companies promoting suicide seeds make no claims that there is any agricultural benefit for farmers from these products. If you control most of the points of contact between the field and the marketplace, both in terms of inputs like fertilizer, seed sales and the purchase of the farmers produce, you have an enormous amount of power. Power that can force farmers to use your seed, otherwise you will not buy a farmer’s harvest, or pay less if it is the "wrong" type. Once the seed is purchased you can charge a potentially enormous fee for the chemical that will make the seeds grow.

Lovely, isn't it?

One of the "Small-farmers’ organisations are denouncing the grave harm that ten years of GM crops have wrought in rural areas and on native seeds" as mentioned in the article above is the National Farmers Union (www.nfu.ca). I joined up even though I'm a city dweller. It is very important for everyone to support food sovereignty.

Don't agonize, organize!