NOTE: For why the RTRS, referred to in the article, perpetuates the problem rather than being part of the solution, see: http://www.toxicsoy.org
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GM soy: the high cost of the quest for 'green gold'
Louise Gray
The Telegraph, 17 May 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8518048/GM-soy-the-high-cost-of-the-quest-for-green-gold.html

*Scientists and villagers in rural Paraguay are questioning the health and environmental impact of GM soy. Louise Gray reports.

The green shack where Petrona Villasboa lives in Itapua is surrounded by shimmering fields. It represents a lucrative golden harvest for some but, for this grieving mother, it has become a symbol of death. The crop that dominates this impoverished area of rural southern Paraguay is genetically modified (GM) soy, and she blames it for her son's death. "Soy destroys people's lives," Petrona says. "It is a poison. It is no way to live."

Sitting outside her home, the mother of eight describes the day in January 2003 when 11-year-old Silvino Talavera arrived home. He had cycled to the stalls by the nearest main road to buy some meat and rice for a family meal.

"I was washing clothes down by the river, and he came to tell me that as he'd ridden along the community road, which runs through the soy fields, he'd been sprayed by one of the 'mosquitoes'," she says. (''Mosquitoes'' are what locals call the pesticide or herbicide crop-spraying machines pulled by tractors.) "He smelt so bad that he took his clothes off and jumped straight in the water."

Petrona did not think much more about it. For peasant communities living amid the soy fields, chemical spraying is a frequent occurrence. But later that day, she says the whole family fell ill after eating the food that Silvino had bought.

"Silvino was violently sick. He said, 'Mummy, my bones ache' and then his skin went black'," she says.

By the time they had begged a lift to the nearest hospital. Silvino was unable to move. His stomach was pumped, but he had lost consciousness. Petrona was told her son was ''paralysed by intoxication''. All doctors could do was to offer pain relief. Within a few hours he was dead.

His family were in no doubt that his death was caused by his exposure to the crop spray, but no autopsy was carried out. It was only after years of campaigning that Petrona managed to have the case heard in court. In 2006, two farmers were each sentenced to two years in jail for manslaughter. According to Petrona, the men, who are her neighbours, have never served their sentence, and she continues to fight for justice.

Now Silvino's story has been taken up by environmentalists concerned about the spread of GM crops in parts of the world where communities have little power to fight back when big agri-businesses arrive in town.

The latest figures from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications show that almost 150 million hectares of land was planted with GM crops last year, 10 per cent more than in 2009. The fastest growing areas are in Brazil, Argentina and other South American countries where GM soy grows fast, needs little input and is in demand. In 2010, some 33 million tons of soy (GM and non-GM) were exported to Europe, mostly for animal feed. Britain took three million tons, but the Food Standards Agency is unable to say how much was GM.

The economies of these developing countries are receiving a boost, but groups such as Friends of the Earth (FoE) are concerned by this "soya boom". It is not only the "Frankenfoods" fears about the long-term effects of transgenic seeds in the food chain. FoE claims that "green gold" is displacing small farmers from their land and may even be poisoning communities.

On a recent visit to Paraguay with FoE, I saw trees burning in areas of deforestation and met people who claim to have been "poisoned" by chemicals used to grow GM crops.

Over the past 12 months in Paraguay, the area planted with soy has grown to a record 2.6 million hectares, and most of it is GM. The World Land Trust estimates that more than 90 per cent of the Atlantic Rainforest in the south has been lost to make way for crops, taking with it thousands of unique bird and plant species and endangered animals, such as the jaguar.

Now agri-businesses and large-scale farmers are targeting the Gran Chaco, an area of dry forest that is just as important to wildlife. In a short flight over the vast area, there was clear evidence of deforestation, in the long lines of trees felled for burning.

The impact on communities is also cause for concern, according to FoE. Thousands of people claim to have been driven off the land that has sustained them for centuries. In the main square in the capital Asuncion, indigenous people have set up camp, and tarpaulin shacks by the sides of the road are a common sight now. FoE estimates that 100,000 people have been driven into the urban slums because of the expansion of soy production in Paraguay.

In Itakyru, in the east of the country, a forest community claims that poisons "rained from the sky", resulting in women and children being taken to hospital.

Amnesty International has confirmed that a number of communities have complained that aerial spraying is being used to force people to leave their homes so that the land can be reclaimed for soy production. This has resulted in civil disturbance, with armed men brought in to guard crops.

Dr Miguel Lovera, head of Paraguay's environment agency, Senave, says aerial spraying should not have been carried out in areas where indigenous people were living. He also agrees Silvino was certainly killed by ''acute intoxication with pesticides".

A small Paraguayan 2006 study reported in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics found women living within 1km of sprayed fields were twice as likely to give birth to a child with deformities.

Dr Lovera's greatest concern about the GM soy boom his country is enjoying is the irresponsible use of chemicals used to protect the GM crops from weeds and infestation.

Most of the GM soy planted in Paraguay is a variant known as RoundUp Ready Resistant, which is resistant to a common weed killer, glyphosate. Farmers can use it without harming the crop, and biotech companies claim they use less because only weeds are targeted.

Dr Lovera says the amount of pesticide used in Paraguay has grown tenfold over the past 10 years to 200 million tons in 2006. This is not a problem in itself as glyphosate, if used as directed, is safe, according to manufacturers. But Dr Lovera says that the huge profits to be made from growing GM soy, local corruption and a lack of regulation is driving many farmers to buy cheaper brands, mixing chemicals with no idea of the consequences, and spraying near people's homes.

He is leading the Paraguayan Government's efforts to stop farmers spraying within fifty metres of people's homes, in a strong wind or in high temperatures.

"The picnic is over," he says. "Farmers should start being serious and professional, and comply with the law."

British consumers have a role to play, too, according to Oskar Rivas, the Environment Minister in Paraguay's new socialist government. GM soy might not be grown in the UK but it is part of our daily diet. A recent investigation by The Daily Telegraph found that every supermarket in Britain stocks meat and dairy from animals that could have been fed GM soy, as well as possibly being used in brands including Cadbury and Unilever.

"You have the right to demand cheap milk and meat but you also have the right to demand milk and meat from environmentally sound sources," says Señor Rivas.

While Sr Rivas accepts it is too late to stop GM being grown in Paraguay, he insists that more non-GM could also be grown. He points to the lead taken by Parana state in Brazil, where the local government is promoting non-GM soy as a premium crop.

New initiatives, such as the Round Table on Responsible Soy, backed by the World Wildlife Fund, will encourage this sort of production by issuing a new label for soy including GM in a sustainable way. Some British supermarkets are already signing up. In addition, Friends of the Earth International is working with a local charity, Sobrevivencia, to teach communities environmental law and organic farming techniques.

"At the moment we are all losing out," says Paraguayan Sr Rivas. "With a different structural process we could all win."