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June 21, 1999
Pesticide Action Network
Pesticide Disaster in Paraguay
An international trade union federation has called upon a U.S.-based
seed company to assume responsibility for the environmental and
public health disaster created in Paraguay by its local subsidiary. The
International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering,
Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) is demanding that
Delta & Pine Land, the world's largest cottonseed producer, remove
pesticide-contaminated cotton seed that its subsidiary dumped near a
rural community in Paraguay. Delta & Pine Land is in the process of
being acquired by the Monsanto Company through a share swap to be
completed later this year.
Last November, 30,000 sacks of expired cottonseed, weighing
approximately 660 tons, were dumped near a small village 120
kilometers from the capital Asuncisn. The seeds were treated with high
concentrations of toxic pesticides, including the organophosphates
acephate and chlorpyrifos. The label on the seed sacks states that the
acephate compound (trade name: Orthene 80 Seed Protectant) "contains
material which may cause cancer, mutagenic or reproductive effects
based on laboratory animal data. Risk of cancer depends on duration
and level of exposure." The sacks were spread over one-and-a-half
hectares and were covered with only a thin layer of soil. The disposal
site is on private land in the center of a rural population of three
thousand and less than 170 meters from a primary school with 262
pupils.
Symptoms of pesticide poisoning such as vertigo, nausea, headaches,
neurological disorders, memory loss, insomnia and skin rashes,
appeared immediately in the surrounding population and worsened
after the first rains.
On December 28, a local resident died. His official death certificate
states that he was treated by the attending physician for "acute
poisoning due to pollution caused by toxins of the Delta & Pine Land
seed deposited on the property of Julio Chavez." According to his
widow, he fell ill on December 26 and by the next day could no longer
get out of bed. Mr. Ruiz, a father of five, was thirty years old at the
time of his death.
Medical testing of the residents has produced irrefutable evidence of
acute pesticide poisoning. The Ministries of Agriculture and of Public
Health have acknowledged the results of the tests but have not taken
action. The IUF has met with the Minister of Health and the president
of Paraguay, and has helped to organize demonstrations and support for
the victims of the contamination. Still, the government refuses to act.
In August, the case will be the subject of an inquiry in Asuncisn
organized by the Ethical Tribunal against Impunity in Paraguay with
the support of the Latin American Regional Secretariat of the IUF.
The IUF is demanding:
* Immediate action to remove the toxic seed and decontaminate the
area;
* Immediate and comprehensive medical treatment for the victims;
* A program of long-term medical and environmental surveillance,
including regular monitoring of water supplies;
* Adequate compensation for the victims, their families and the wider
community;
* Full and public disclosure of the circumstances surrounding the
dumping.
The thirty thousand sacks of seeds buried in the area were part of a
larger shipment of 84,000 bags of Delta & Pine Land cotton seeds
authorized for importation by the Paraguayan Ministry of Agriculture
and Livestock in 1997. There is no information about the location of
the remaining seed. The IUF is trying to determine if the seeds were
already past their expiry date at the time of export from the United
States and whether they were exported rather than destroyed in the U.S.
where costly disposal procedures would have been required.
The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant,
Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) is an
international trade union federation composed of 329 trade unions in
118 countries with an affiliated membership of 2.6 million members. It
is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Source: IUF press release, June 15, 1999.
Contact: International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant,
Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF), Rampe du
Pont-Rouge, 8, CH-1213 Petit-Lancy, Switzerland; phone (41-22) 793
22 33; fax (41-22) 793 22 38; email iuf@iuf.org; web site
<http://www.iuf.org/>http://www.iuf.org.
News Release - 21 June, 1999
For Immediate Release
It's 'The Real Thing' in Paraguay
The folks that brought you Terminator are now
dumping Originator toxic seeds on farmers' fields
As delegates to the Biodiversity Convention's scientific body (SBSTTA)
convene in Montreal to contemplate a harsh new critique of Terminator
Technology and their frustrated efforts to achieve a biosafety protocol,
Terminator's many inventors are tripping over themselves sowing confusion
and dumping mystery seeds 'dressed to kill'.
When the Biodiversity Convention's call last year for an investigation of
Terminator Technology was followed by a repudiation of the Terminator by
the world's largest public sector plant breeding network (CGIAR), the
technology's numerous inventors began to back peddle. After all,
commercial introduction of the seed sterilization technique was at least
three years off. If governments and civil society critics could be
pacified now, there would be time to position an effective lobby and PR
strategy that would keep the Terminator 'on course' as the platform for all
GMO plant breeding in the future.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, co-inventor of the original Terminator
with Delta and Pine Land Co., for example, stated in a May 14 letter to the
Biodiversity Convention that it would not use the technology to sterilize
seeds. The U.S. said specifically that it would only explore the
technology in areas "...unrelated to seed germination". This statement was in
keeping with a
USDA-RAFI meeting in February this year when the government acknowledged
that they were besieged by public protest over USDA involvement with the
unsavory technology. However, RAFI has uncovered a new USDA-Purdue
University patent on Terminator technology issued on March 11th of this
year. The new patent explicitly includes seed sterilization among its uses.
The Biodiversity Convention also received a letter from AstraZeneca dated
February 24, 1999, in which the company categorically states that it
abandoned the development of its Verminator technology for the purpose of
seed sterilization in 1992. RAFI has learned that ExSeed, an AstraZeneca
joint venture with Iowa State University, won a new seed sterilization
patent on August 11, 1997, based on a claim made in 1995 - three years
after this research was to have been abandoned.
Delegates to the Biodiversity Convention have also received a report from
Monsanto, the Gene Giant that has agreed to buy Delta & Pine Land Company
and its Terminator patent. Monsanto is calling for a full international
evaluation of the patent prior to its commercialization. Not only has the
company misled the public on its plans for this evaluation but it has
withheld the fact that all along it has held a second Terminator-type
patent of its own.
Now, Delta & Pine Land, which launched news stories on the original
Terminator patent with proclamations of its benefits to poor farmers and
world food security, has dumped hundreds of tonnes of unidentified cotton
seed coated in highly-toxic chemicals in Paraguay. Whether or not the
toxic seeds were failed genetic modification or Terminator field trials
remains for the company to answer.
Seeds of Destruction -- Seed Scandal in Paraguay
While most of the world is focusing on Belgium's recent debacle with dioxin
and with tainted Coke, toxic seed dumps in Paraguay are poisoning people,
contaminating water supplies and devastating the rural community of Rincon
I, approximately 120 kilometers from Asuncion. At least two toxic seed
dumps have been identified in Paraguay, where massive quantities of Delta &
Pine Land's "surplus" cotton seed were discarded by the company in
November, 1998 and January, 1999.
According to Miguel Lovera, Coordinator of Biodiversity and Development for
the Asuncion-based SOBREVIVENCIA - Friends of the Earth-Paraguay, "If Delta
& Pine Land's toxic seeds were dumped in Belgium, or in the United States,
the whole world would learn of its devastating consequences. In Paraguay,
it's the real thing, but there's been no cleanup, no re-call, and no
compensation for victims - just a pattern of extreme corporate negligence,
cover-up and deception.
So far, the only help the people of Rincon I have received is the help of
the Geneva -based International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers, the
Asunción-based non-govermental organization AlterVida and SOBREVIVENCIA.
"The tragic irony," continues Lovera, "is that the biotech industry
promised to clean up the environment and help feed hungry people. Instead,
my country is being used as a dumping ground for high-tech seeds and deadly
chemicals that are contaminating rural communities and endangering lives"
It is not known precisely why the Paraguayan government agreed in 1997 to
import 85,000 bags of Delta & Pine cotton seed, enough to plant 170
thousand hectares, far exceeding the needs of Paraguayan cotton farmers at
that time.
According to the Paraguayan press, up to 660 tonnes of Delta & Pine Land
cotton seed were dumped in November 1998, and a second time in early 1999.
The largest dump site is located in the rural community of Rincon I,
approximately 170 metres from a local school. Despite widespread protest
and national media coverage over the past six months, the company has
failed to clean up the sites and compensate victims. At least one fatality
has been reported in connection with the toxic seeds.
According to correspondence from Delta & Pine Land, field trials of at
least seven of the company's genetically modified cotton seed varieties
were conducted in Paraguay in the past three years. However, it is not
known whether the toxic seed dumps contained genetically modified cotton
varieties. One variety is branded "Originator" or "DeltaPine 50", a
non-genetically modified variety.
The cotton seeds found at the dump site were reportedly coated with a
cocktail of agro-toxins, including: Orthene (acefate - a systemic
organophosphate), benlate, lorsban, Metalaxyl, baytan-Thirann and Kodiac --
which contains Bacillus subtilis A-13, a genetically modified bacterium. It
is not unusual for high-tech, commercial cotton seed to be coated with
fungicides and other agrochemicals. The massive quantity of discarded seeds
concentrated on less than one hectare of land apparently resulted in the
extreme toxicity of the site, and the danger to area residents.
Following a Paraguayan court ruling on the issue, Delta & Pine Land has
reportedly admitted responsibility for the dumping, although it has failed
to recognize the extreme toxicity of the site, suggesting that local
farmers could use the blue-colored, toxic "seed soup" as green manure for
fertilizing fields. According to the Paraguayan press, Delta & Pine Land
prefers the cheaper option of offering compensation, rather than removing
the deadly seeds and cleaning up the site.
Whether or not the toxic seed dump contained genetically modified
varieties, the biosafety issue is undeniable. CBD's SBSTTA must address the
tragedy in Paraguay, and the implications of irresponsible seed dumping in
its biosafety negotiations. The Paraguayan experience underscores the
urgent need to return to negotiations on the protocol and to ensure that
agricultural seed and commodities, and their wider socio-economic
consequences , be incorporated into the agreement.
Meanwhile, who will control seedy corporate activities in Paraguay?
1. Delta & Pine Land should publicly disclose all relevant information
about all seeds that were dumped in Paraguay and the chemicals they were
treated with, including:
- the names and volumes of all cotton varieties dumped, and
information about all the chemicals used to treat them
- whether these varieties or the materials used to treat them were
genetically modified, and if so in what ways;
2. Delta & Pine Land should clean up the dump sites, as directed;
3. Delta & Pine Land should provide for the health of all residents in the
area of the dump sites to be monitored according to approved Pan American
Health Organization or World Health Organization rules and procedures;
4. Delta & Pine Land should compensate victims for negative health impacts,
loss of livelihood and income, and should provide potable water for use by
the community until an independent assessment deems the water in the area
safe.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Miguel Lovera
SOBREVIVNCIA - FRIENDS OF THE EARTH PARAGUAY
Isabel La Católica 1867
Asunción - Paraguay
Tel/Fax: +595-21-480182
e-mail: survive@quanta.com.py
RAFI (Rural Advancement Foundation Int'l.)
110 Osborne St., Suite 202
WINNIPEG MB R3L 1Y5
CANADA
Tel: (204) 453-5259
Fax: (204) 925-8034
E-mail: rafi@rafi.org
Internet: <http://www.rafi.org/>www.rafi.org |