Argentinia: Federal Prosecutor requests ban on GMO crops

This breaking news was published on Sustainable Pulse on December 28: “Argentinian Federal Prosecutor Fabián Canda has officially filed a request to the Federal Administrative Court of Buenos Aires to prohibit the sale of GMO seeds that are designed to be grown with glyphosate herbicides (Roundup Ready), due to the probable harm to human and environmental health being caused by the weedkiller.” A decision on the request will be released in the first 3 months of 2017.

Canda’s request, based on the precautionary principle, also calls for a ban on the aerial spraying of glyphosate herbicides and a 5 km no-spray zone surrounding population centers, schools, villages, farm houses, rivers, lakes and groundwater wells. As reported by the Argentinian Diario Judical the Federal Prosecutor stated that conclusions of “scientific studies and technical reports" should be considered. He emphasized that “these reports and the references in them reveal at least the probable harm being caused by glyphosate-based herbicides”. 

Argentinian law clearly states that authorizations for chemicals should not be granted without knowing the full environmental and health effects of the chemical. Canda concluded that “this is clearly not the case with glyphosate herbicides, the science has not been comprehensive enough.”

Studies from Argentina have been presented also at the Monsanto Tribunal in The Hague in October 2014. The Argentinian lawyer Juan Ignacio Pereyra and his colleague have gathered evidence that proves a connection between glyphosate and deformities.Witnesses from there gave their statements to the tribunal.