Monsanto Refuses to Testify at Seed Hearing in Puerto Rico Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero
Monsanto has refused to testify at a major government hearing about the development and sale of seeds in Puerto Rico. At stake is the research that the company conducts into genetic engineering on the island that critics say threaten the environment and can cause serious human health problems.This is not the first time local officials have targeted Monsanto. On April 22, senators María
de Lourdes Santiago of the Puerto Rico Independence Party, and Larry
Seilhamer of the New Progressive Party, introduced Senate Bill 524,
which would mandate the labeling of foods with genetically modified
content sold on the island. The Senate Health Committee is expected to hold hearings on this bill later this year.Monsanto
has also been embroiled in a legal controversy over the fact it plants
crops on 1,500 acres, despite the fact that Puerto Rico's 1952
constitution prohibits agricultural landholdings larger than 500 acres.
http://www.80grados.net/tus-contribuciones-enriquecen-a-monsanto/ In
May, Puerto Rico Agriculture Secretary Myrna Comas, a well known food
security scholar, referred this matter to the Puerto Rico Justice
Department, requesting a legal opinion."It is our
duty to monitor the food health of our people. If we are given evidence
regarding some effect on the island we'll take it into consideration," Comas said in a radio interview.Local
media reports have pointed out the irony that despite the fact that
Monsanto is in apparent violation of the Puerto Rico constitution, it
has received $4.9 million in subsidies from the local Agriculture
Department to help it cover payroll expenses from 2006 to 2013.The
Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture and Juan Santiago-Cabán,
operations manager of Monsanto in Puerto Rico, did not respond to
CorpWatch's interview requests.Meanwhile local farmers have
publicly rallied to the cause. An April 24 event to induct Monsanto, the
global leader in seed sales and biotechnology, into the Puerto Rico
Agricultural Hall of Fame, became the target of protest by local farmers
who are angry about the company's role in developing genetically
modified crops on large plots of land on the island.The Hall of
Fame was set up by Acción y Reforma Agrícola (ARA), a farm lobby group
founded by agribusinessman Pedro Vivoni, who owns Agro Servicios, a farm
supply company. (Monsanto represents 18 percent of Agro Servicios'
business, according to coverage by the local media). The Hall of Fame
has been endorsed by the Agronomists Association (Colegio de Agrónomos)
and the Agriculture Department of Puerto Rico, which gave ARA a $5,000
donation earlier this year.“It is totally
unacceptable on the part of an organization that represents agronomists
and farmers to name Monsanto to the Puerto Rico Agriculture Hall of
Fame, a company that sues farmers all over the world and has
contributed to the destruction of the world's agricultural
biodiversity,” said the activists in a statement presented by various
scientific, student and farming organizations, including the local
chapter of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA)
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