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Mindanao
Farmers Oppose BT Corn
More
than a thousand farmers, lumads, workers and students stormed the gates of
Monsanto Philippines in General Santos City, South Cotabato last May 27. The
protesters were opposing the massive selling and planting of a Bt-corn brand
labeled as Dekalb 818 YG, owned and produced by Monsanto.
They said that Dekalb 818 YG has caused illnesses to humans and has
poisoned the environment.
By
Dennis Espada
Bulatlat.com
 
Farmers
and scientists protest the selling of Bt corn (right), echoing the writing on
Monsanto's wall.
Photos
by Dennis Espada
More than a thousand
farmers, lumads, workers and students stormed the gates of Monsanto Philippines
in General Santos City, South Cotabato last May 27. The protesters were opposing
the massive selling and planting of a Bt-corn brand labeled as Dekalb 818 YG,
owned and produced by Monsanto. They
said that Dekalb 818 YG has caused illnesses to humans and has poisoned the
environment.
In
December 2002, the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry
(DA-BPI) had approved Monsanto’s application for the commercialization of
Bt-corn, a variety that contains genetically-modified organisms
(GMOs) and the first biotech food crop to be planted in Asia.
Farmer’s’
testimonies
BPI’s approval of the
commercialization of Bt-corn was partly based on local field trial results that
showed significant increases in the yield of corn with reduced pesticide
applications, which agriculture officials claim will increase farmers' income.
Other farmers, however, refuted Monsanto’s claims
of “higher
yields and income.”
Boy Gonzales, a corn farmer from Sara town, Iloilo in the Visayas region
said that despite being resistant to corn borer, Bt-corn fields were
infested by stalk rot (a fungus that caused the withering of the corn’s stalks
and leaves), plant hoppers and other pests.
Stalk rot, he said, has destroyed nearly 40 percent of all the crops planted in
their area.
According to the
Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura or Masipag (Peasants-Scientists’
Partnership for Agricultural Development), an organization
promoting sustainable agriculture, the
price of Dekalb seeds is P4,500 for each sack, which is double compared to the
cost of both ordinary and hybrid seeds, which costs only P2,300.
Masipag’s
studies reveal that as of 2003, the crop has been propagated in 20,000 hectares
of land across the country. Such lofty costs, Masipag concludes, will push
farmers to further bankruptcy.
"Kahit gumamit
ng Bt-corn, hindi pa rin makakaahon sa kahirapan ang mga magsasaka dahil ang
pangunahing suliranin niya ay ang kawalan ng taba ng lupa, ang mababang presyo
ng mais sa pamilihan, mataas na usura at iba pa” (Even if we use BT corn,
farmers still cannot emerge from poverty because our main problem is the
infertility of the soil, the low price of corn in the market, usury, and
others), Gonzales added.
Precaution as
principle
Last year, around 51
local residents of Sitio Kalyong, Barangay Landan in Polomolok town, South
Cotabato underwent medical treatment after being taken ill with colds, fever,
abdominal pains, headaches and breathing difficulties with unexplained causes.
Victims said they got sick after smelling a foul odor coming from the pollens of
a nearby Bt-corn field which was about 100 meters away from their houses.
Last March, Norwegian
scientist Dr. Terje Traavik of the Institute of Gene Ecology said that vestiges
of Bt toxin were detected in the blood samples of the victims, causing the
production of antibodies.
The DA appears to be
indifferent to these findings, however.
Pablo Senon, a
farmer-leader from Polomolok, decried: “What
saddens me is that the government has not conducted scientific tests to
determine if Bt-corns are safe. Instead
their attention is focused on defending Monsanto.”
A report by online news
agency MindaNews said a Monsanto official based in this city had brushed aside
the findings of Traavik.
“We really don’t know how they were able to determine such findings. I think
it’s a biased result considering that they came from those opposing our
product,” Monsanto’s technology development executive Francisco Camacho was
quoted as saying.
In a statement, Masipag said the whole point of Traavik's study—-though not
yet conclusive-—is to “emphasize
the need for identifying and recognizing uncertainties that could compromise the
human health and the environment”
as it stressed the importance of “precautionary
principle” in
the trans-boundary propagation of GMOs. The Norwegian scientist believes that
many species and cultures could be at risk with its "yet-to-be determined
impacts on biodiversity and human health.”
Lethal
science?
Formed in 1901 in
Missouri, U.S. Monsanto’s business extends to more than 60 countries today. It
has major chemical plants in Argentina, Belgium and Brazil and owns land,
manufacturing and agricultural facilities in all the continents.
Sarah Wright, a member
of Seattle-based organization PressurePoint and author of “Selling
Food.Health.Hope: The Real Story Behind Monsanto Corporation,”
told local journalists in a media briefing held here that what is less known
about the company is “its
shameful history of polluting towns and rivers, and creating toxic chemicals
including the notorious Agent Orange used during the Vietnam War.”
The American military
has used the Agent Orange, a lethal herbicide, to defoliate the thick forest
cover of Vietnam.
"What is amazing
and truly disturbing is the fact that Monsanto, which has been selling
itself as a clean and green, trustworthy company, has been involved in shady
cases and dirty tactics over the years. Monsanto’s chemicals have caused
cancers, birth defects and other
forms of health problems. Its agrochemical products such as pesticides that were
already banned in other countries are being sold here in the country. This is
the company which the Philippine government is reportedly trusting to
demonstrate the safety of GMOs," Wright told Bulatlat.com in an interview.
In Anniston, Alabama,
about 3,500 local residents filed a case against Monsanto for “poisoning
and lying to their community.”
According to a report by the Washington Post, the company has been dumping toxic
waste such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into a creek for nearly 40 years.
The pollution scale was so extreme that if a fish was put into that creek, it
will turn “belly-up
within 10 seconds, spurting blood and shedding skin as if dropped into boiling
water.”
“The Monsanto
management was so focused in making money…completely
regardless of any social and environmental risks,”
Wright added
Trampling
on farmers’
rights
“Seeds are enriched
for thousands of generations by farmers. Therefore, it should be owned by all,”
asserted Igmedio Facunla, a peasant leader from Nueva Ecija in Luzon. Facunla is
the secretary-general of the Alyansa ng Magsasaka sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL) and
chairman of Masipag.
In the May 27 protest
action, Facunla declared Monsanto “guilty”
of crimes said to have been committed against poor farmers. “They’re
guilty of trampling on farmer’s
rights to genetic
resources, seeds, land and technologies,”
he said.
The mobilization was
organized by Masipag as a culmination of their weeklong General Assembly held in
Santo Nino town, South Cotabato. Other organizations which participated in the
mobilization were local chapters of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP),
South East Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE), Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan and progressive partylist groups Bayan Muna, Anak ng Bayan,
Gabriela, Anakpawis and Suara Bangsamoro.
Meanwhile, a source from
Monsanto, who refused to be identified, told this writer that it is everyone's
right to protest but maintains that the management has denied all the issues
being raised by the protesters. Bulatlat.com
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