Monsanto pulls out of Costa Rica
COSTA RICA TRANSGENICS ALERT
Central American Alliance for Protection of Biodiversity
Biodiversity Network CR
20 September 2004

Monsanto the company responsible for more than 90% of industrial releases of transgenic organisms in the world has decided to withdraw its request to release genetically modified corn (maiz) in Costa Rica and to pull out of the country.

Environmentalists in Costa Rica are still working to strengthen the campaign for an GMO-free country.

Members of the National Commission on Biosafety say that Monsanto's withdrawal is a success for social groups that have been leading a campaign against the expansion of transgenic crops in Costa Rica. Staff of the Biotechnology Department of the State Plant Health Service believe the government can no longer stand up for companies, when faced with the persistent claims and demands of the public that opposes this kind of biotechnology. They say it would be good if the companies responded to the many invitations for an open debate made by numerous social groups.

Isaac Rojas, President of the Costa Rica Federation for Environment Conservation, welcomed the self-criticism of the National Commission on Biosafety. He said the public sector (State) cannot and should not continue to legitimize and defend biotec companies nor transgenic products. It is time that the corporate sector shows its face and enters into a process of public debate.

Fabián Pacheco, a spokesman for the Social Ecology Association, said "It was to be expected that Monsanto would choose to go to other countries where conditions are less critical and more permissive," and added "This kind of evasive attitude shows that the companies do not have technical arguments to prove that GMOs are safe and that the precautionary principle is not being violated."

The Biodiversity Network CR calls on all parts of the ecological movement and peoples' organisations of other countries in the region to be alert. Monsanto is leaving Costa Rica, but it will go to other countries where it can sell its transgenic crops without much noise, to avoid polemics and open debate and adverse effects on its economic interests. Beware!

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