VENEZUELA: Chavez dumps Monsanto
From: *Lionel & Toni McCosker <ltgmcc2@bigpond.com>
Jason Tockman, Caracas From: Governor
Sunday, April 29, 2007 1:34 PM
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias has announced that
the cultivation
of genetically modified crops will be prohibited on
Venezuelan soil,
possibly establishing the most sweeping restrictions on
transgenic crops
in the western hemisphere.
Though full details of the administration's policy on
genetically modified
organisms (GMOs) are still forthcoming, the statement by
President Hugo
Chavez will lead most immediately to the cancellation of
a contract that
Venezuela had negotiated with the US-based Monsanto
Corporation.
Before a recent international gathering of supporters in
Caracas, Chavez
admonished genetically engineered crops as contrary to
interests and needs
of the nation's farmers and farmworkers. He then zeroed
in on Monsanto's
plans to plant up to 500,000 acres of transgenic soybeans
in Venezuela.
"I ordered an end to the project", said Chavez,
upon learning that
transgenic crops were involved. "This project is
terminated."
Chavez emphasised the importance of food sovereignty and
security -
required by the Venezuelan Constitution - as the basis of
his decision.
Instead of allowing Monsanto to grow its transgenic
crops, these fields
will be used to plant yuca, an indigenous crop, Chavez
explained. He also
announced the creation of a large seed bank facility to
maintain
indigenous seeds for peasants' movements around the
world.
The international peasants' organisation Via Campesina,
representing more
than 60 million farmers and farmworkers, had brought the
issue to the
attention of the Chavez administration when it learned of
the contract
with Monsanto. According to Rafael Alegria, secretary for
international
operations of Via Campesina, both Monsanto and Cargill
are seeking
authorisation to produce transgenic soy products in
Venezuela.
"The agreement was against the principles of food
sovereignty that guide
the agricultural policy of Venezuela", said Alegria
when informed of the
president's decision. "This is a very important
thing for the peasants and
indigenous people of Latin America and the world."
Alegria has good reason to be concerned. With a long
history of social and
environmental problems, Monsanto won early international
fame with its
production of the chemical Agent Orange - the Vietnam War
defoliant linked
to miscarriages, tremors, and memory loss that more than
1 million people
were exposed to. More recently, the company has been
criticised for
side-effects that its transgenic crops and bovine growth
hormone (rBGH)
are believed to have on human health and the environment.
Closer to home in Venezuela, Monsanto manufactures the
pesticide
"glyphosate", (Roundup) which is used by the
neighbouring Colombian
government as part of its Plan Colombia offensive against
coca production
and rebel
groups. The Colombian government aerially sprays hundreds
of thousands of
acres, destroying legitimate farms and natural areas like
the Putomayo
rainforest, and posing a direct threat to human health,
including that of
indigenous communities.
"If we want to achieve food sovereignty, we cannot
rely on transnationals
like Monsanto", said Maximilien Arvelaiz, an adviser
to Chavez. "We need
to strengthen local production, respecting our heritage
and diversity."
Alegria hopes that Venezuela's move will serve as
encouragement to other
nations contemplating how to address the issue of GMOs.
"The people of the United States, of Latin America,
and of the world need
to follow the example of a Venezuela free of
transgenics", he said.
>From Green Left Weekly, May 5, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page. <http://www.greenleft.org.au/>
Tensions rise as American drought
worsens, threatens to spread
Chicago Tribune
Jun. 18, 2007 04:54 PM
ATLANTA - North and South Carolina are fighting over a
river. In Tennessee, springs are drying up, jeopardizing
production of Jack Daniels whiskey. The mayor of Los
Angeles is asking residents to take shorter showers. And
in Georgia, the governor is praying for rain.
More than a third of the United States is in the grip of
a menacing drought that threatens to spread before the
summer ends.
While much of the West has experienced drought conditions
for close to a decade, the latest system is centered over
Alabama and extends to much of the Southeast, heavily
affecting Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Tennessee, North and South Carolina and Virginia as well
as parts of Arkansas and West Virginia.
Parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee are
experiencing a level D4 drought, the most extreme level
charted and the worst in the nation. Severe drought
conditions are moving north, into Kentucky and closer to
the Midwest."It's one of the worst droughts in
living memory in the Southeast at this point," said
Doug LeComte, a drought specialist with the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "This
happens only about every 50 years or so."
The severe conditions have forced cities to establish
tough water restrictions, basically banning everything
from watering lawns on weekdays to wiping out summertime
rituals such as cooling off children with water hoses.As
lawns turn brown and tempers flare under the sweltering
heat, neighbors are snitching on one another, turning in
those whose lawns appear too green. And officials in some
cities are dealing with those perpetrators by imposing
hefty fines, turning off water service to homes and
throwing chronic abusers into jail.In Columbia County,
Ga., near Augusta, officials are receiving at least a
half-dozen calls a day from people turning in their
neighbors. So far they have turned off water to 50 homes
that violated the water ban at least three times.
Wellington, Fla., has issued more than 2,000 citations,
with fines ranging from $75 to $250 for repeat offenders.
The Birmingham, Ala., area has some of the toughest
repercussions for those who ignore its ban on using lawn
sprinklers or decide to wash their cars in driveways.
Residents are being told to use hand sprayers or fill
buckets to water their flowers and grass. In the city of
Birmingham, violators face hefty surcharges for using
more than the allotted amount of water.In Atlanta, where
rapid growth is contributing to the water shortage,
outdoor water use is banned during the week. In suburban
Forsyth County, violators can receive up to a $1,000 in
fines and up to 60 days in jail for the second violation.
The fire chief in suburban Roswell, Ga., is considering
banning Fourth of July fireworks in that city, fearing
that a spark could ignite fires.
Extreme drought in at least 95 Georgia counties has hurt
the state's $54 billion agricultural industry. Officials
said farmers throughout the South are being hit hard,
with losses to cotton, peanuts and corn.Farmers in
California, Kentucky and Alabama are selling their herds
because a shortage of hay to feed them."Farmers are
reporting nothing but dust. It's dire straits,"
LeComte said.
Jerry Hamilton, the distillery plant manager for Jack
Daniels in Lynchburg, Tenn., told the Associated Press
recently that the stream that supplies iron-free water
for its whiskey recipe was flowing about one-third to
one-half its normal rate. Officials said the distillery
is conserving the water from Cave Springs, which has been
used for 140 years, using it only for whiskey.
South Carolina and North Carolina are battling over the
Catawba River, which provides drinking water and
electricity for the two states. South Carolina has filed
a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to ban a
plan by two suburbs of Charlotte to pump up to 10 million
gallons of water a day from the river.Unless a resolution
is found quickly, the states could end up in a water war
like the one involving Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
Those states have been embroiled in a court battle over
how to share the water in the Chattahoochee River for 16
years.
Experts blame the Southeast's drought on a persistent
high-pressure system that has kept rain away from the
area. In California, an abnormally dry winter is the
culprit.
Americans use an average of 100 gallons of water a day,
and they're being urged to cut their demand to put less
pressure on the supply.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants residents to
reduce their water use by 10 percent through small
changes, such as taking shorter showers and sweeping
sidewalks instead of spraying them down.People will have
to learn to conserve or pay a price in the future,
LeComte said.
"This is a reminder that these major droughts can
happen anywhere," he said. "Whether this is a
trend or not, it will make people rethink their use of
this valuable resource and realize that it is not
infinite."
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0618water-wars0618-ON.html
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