The experience was also launched in the USA, the other country where the soybean of Monsanto its being used and where traders are already working with Greenpeace to attend markets that refuse to buy the USA multinational corporation soybean.
Around 80 percent of the global production of Argentinan soybean (1) and its byproducts are export to the European market, becoming the most important comercial position for the country with incomes for 3.000 millons dolars per year.
Greenpeace has been warning Argentinian farmers on the objections made by important channels of supermarkets, retailers and food companies from Europe where 60 per cent of the processed foods are compound with soy products, from baby foods to chocolates. These refuse to buy organisms genetically altered for human consumption and demand to enable the posibility to choose between the traditional and the altered soybean products trough a labeling system.
The past experiences of the interdiction by law imposed by Europe and the USA to the Argentinian cow meat pretexting that it was afected by the aphthous as well as the fruit exports supposed to be affected by the fly of the fruit, have been provoked millionares loses to the Argentinian comercial trading.
PROTEST IN IOWA, USA
Greenpeace activists blocked in the state of Iowa (USA) a Monsanto RRS field and obliged to establish a quarantine on it with the purpose to advise to the public about the hazard of the genetic manipulation of food products.
Inspired in an USA TV programme called "The X-files", more than 30 activits of Greenpeace marked on the soybean field an X 30 metres long side, in non toxic brillant rose painting and the words: "Biohazard, Monsanto".
GREENPEACE ALERTS ARGENTINIAN FARMERS
Greenpeace South Cone alerts soybean Argentinian farmers about the promise made by Monsanto in its ads where its promises that the transgenic soybean will carry them better outputs and incomes. Monsanto launched in the Argentinian agricultural market its genetically manipulated soybean at the end of August promotioning it as the "forth agricultural revolution".
The RR soybean (Roundup Ready, in English: ready for the herbicide Roundup) difers from the traditional soybean because it has been added to its ADN three genes from the Agrocacterium sp, the petunia and the virus mosaico of the coliflower, respectively.
The only consequence of this modification is that converts the traditional soybean in other resistent to ilimitated quantities of the herbicide Roundup of Monsanto, based in the glifosato. With these, Monsanto promise to the farmers that the weeds will not compete with the soybean during the growing process. [PD NOTE: i.e. they can use an herbicide in with a crop!]
The RRS doesnt supply any benefit to the consumer: it is not more nurishing, it doesn't taste better neither is cheaper. With its development the chemical and the agricultural industries go towards a dangerous direction: the design of plants adapted to incresing doses of chemical toxics products. [*** KEY POINT]
The RRS increase Monsanto incomes which benefit itself with the selling of the seed, the herbicide and posibly in the future, with the royalties that may charge sometime for the use of the patent, issue that is being pushed by the USA government. The use of the RRS makes the farmers fully dependent on one company -Monsanto - reducing their control of their lands and seeds.
Monsanto oposses the labelling of seeds and products made with the RRS impeding consumers to distinguish the use of this type of row materials in food products.*
This negative will place the whole Argentinian soy production as genetically modified to the eyes of European consumers who may put objections to its entrance to their markets. Based on this reasons Greenpeace decided to offer to conect traditional Argentinian soybean farmers with interntioanl traders to enable them to place their production in European markets.
Monsanto expects that in the following years the RRS to ocupy a substantial part of the huges crops of soybean in Argentina as well as in its country home (USA) and Brazil.
(1) INDEC - Trade Department - Exports - Soybean - October 4th. 1996 - Germany, Holand and Belgique buys 53,5 per cent of the Argentinian soybean exports.
* PD NOTE: PUSHING FOR LABELLING SEEMS LIKE KEY ACTION HERE. If it's safe, why won't they let the consumer choose? Informing the consumer is a vital design element in the free market's maxim "Let the market decide" - it can only decide if it has full information! Monsanto uses free market arguments when it's to their advantage, and completely rejects them when it's not. If it's so safe, why not let us decide???
