Groups want to keep genetically modified crops and Monsanto out of Costa Rica

November 7^th, 2012 (InsideCostaRica.com) – Yesterday, at 12:30 p.m., the first public signatures against Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) corn seeds in Costa Rica were delivered to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganaderia- MAG), located in Sabana Sur.

The recent controversy in the country began as two companies, “Semillas del Tropico” and “D&PL Semillas”, applied for permission to plant 35 hectares of various GM corn seeds that belong to the multinational company, Monsanto, in Guanacaste. The request was made to the State Phytosanitary Service and the National Biosafety Committee.

Monsanto is a U.S. publicly traded, multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation, and is a leading producer of genetically engineered seeds and of the herbicide glyphosate, which it markets under the brand name “Roundup.”

The company’s agriculture biotech products, its lobbying of government agencies, and its history as a chemical company, have made it a controversial company around the world. While glyphosate has been approved by regulatory bodies worldwide and is less toxic than many herbicides that it has replaced, concerns about its effects on humans and the environment persist.

Even President Obama has been criticized for plucking his team of food and agriculture leaders directly from biotech companies such as Monsanto. Some examples of these leaders are Michael Taylor (former Monsanto Vice President, now FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods), Roger Beachy (former director of the Monsanto-funded Danforth Plant Science Center, former director of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture until May, 2011), and Islam Siddiqui (Vice president of the Monsanto and Dupont-funded pesticide-promoting lobbying group, Croplife, now Agriculture Negotiator for the US Trade representative), among others.

Monsanto is widely known for taking over the food industry by patenting different types of seeds such as cotton and corn seeds. In doing so, the company has also taken many conventional seeds off the market, as they strike deals with different farmers throughout the globe, in which they promise that these GM seeds will provide higher yields. In India, for example, the company offered numerous farmers their cotton seed, called BT Cotton, advising them that not only would the product offer higher yield, but it would also be resistant to weeds and pests in general. Under such promises, farmers in India began to sign contracts and purchase the promising seeds, slowly removing the conventional seeds from the market, and making the famers dependent on buying the GM cottonseeds. Once this happened, Monsanto increased the prices up to four times. Faced with the situation, the farmers took out loans, which they later could not afford, in order to purchase the seeds. Unfortunately, many found themselves with crop yields that were 5 times less than traditional Indian cotton, and the income in some cases was up to 7 times less than conventional cotton. In a course of one year, over 600 farmers in India committed suicide, as they were not able to pay back the loans, and many lost everything they had.

A group of scientists in France recently carried out a study to see what the effects of genetically modified corn was on rats. After two years of feeding the rats with GM corn, they found that the animals developed mammary tumors, and experienced severe damage to some of their organs, including the liver and kidney. Monsanto is debating the findings of the study. The situation, however, has raised debate around the world in regards to genetically modified products, Monsanto and the oversight of the FDA in such cases.

A documentary called “The World According to Monsanto” has been circling the Internet for a few years now, and has been translated in several languages. In the documentary, among many other issues surrounding the company, experts explain that the FDA has not classified GM seeds as different, but rather “substantially equivalent”, which then became “generally recognized as safe” (GRASS), to normal seeds. Typically, in order for something to be considered as GRASS, it undergoes many studies and requires consensus among the scientific community. Monsanto states that they have a large number of studies that indicate that its products are indeed safe. However, Monsanto has also been accused of falsifying and influencing studies that it commissions.

Several European countries have temporarily suspended the import of GM corn from Monsanto, and the Russian Consumer Protection agency has announced that importing and trading of the transgenic will be suspended until further research in regards to the French study is conducted.

Agronomists and agricultural experts in Costa Rica are mainly concerned with the risk of contamination that GM products can cause to the cultures nearby, as transgenic contamination has already occurred in the Central American region and Mexico, and the variety of local corns in the region has already been reduced.

Such concerns do not rest only in Costa Rica. Norway, for example, has created a holding center to keep and protect their original seeds, as many are worried GM seeds will take over and perhaps even cross pollinate, eventually destroying the original seeds.

For these reasons, environmentalists in the country have carried out a campaign against plantations of genetically modified corn in Costa Rica.

Editor’s note: Reader Trisha Spinelli made us aware that there is an online petition against the introduction of GMO’s to Costa Rica.  You can sign the petition by clicking here.  

Correction / Editor’s Note (November 12th, 2012): Inside Costa Rica was contacted by Jennifer Martin, a public affairs officer at USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, to inform us that Roger Beachy left that organization in May, 2011.  Inside Costa Rica has corrected the story.  We regret the error.