the National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay (MPNKP), called
the entry of Monsanto seeds into Haiti “a very strong attack on small
agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds…, and on what
is left our environment in Haiti.”[1] Haitian social movements have been
vocal in their opposition to agribusiness imports of seeds and food,
which undermines local production with local seed stocks. They have
expressed special concern about the import of genetically modified
organisms (GMOs).

For now, without a law regulating the use of GMOs in Haiti, the Ministry of Agriculture rejected Monsanto’s offer of Roundup Ready GMO
seeds. In an email exchange, a Monsanto representative assured the
Ministry of Agriculture that the seeds being donated are not GMO.

Elizabeth Vancil, Monsanto’s Director of Development Initiatives, called the news that the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture approved the
donation “a fabulous Easter gift” in an April email.[2] Monsanto is
known for aggressively pushing seeds, especially GMO seeds, in both the
global North and South, including through highly restrictive technology
agreements with farmers who are not always made fully aware of what they
are signing. According to interviews by this writer with
representatives of Mexican small farmer organizations, they then find
themselves forced to buy Monsanto seeds each year, under conditions they
find onerous and at costs they sometimes cannot afford.

The hybrid corn seeds Monsanto has donated to Haiti are treated with the fungicide Maxim XO, and the calypso tomato seeds are treated with
thiram.[3] Thiram belongs to a highly toxic class of chemicals called
ethylene bisdithiocarbamates (EBDCs). Results of tests of EBDCs on mice
and rats caused concern to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), which then ordered a special review. The EPA determined that
EBDC-treated plants are so dangerous to agricultural workers that they
must wear special protective clothing when handling them. Pesticides
containing thiram must contain a special warning label, the EPA ruled.
The EPA also barred marketing of the chemicals for many home garden
products, because it assumes that most gardeners do not have adequately
protective clothing.[4] Monsanto’s passing mention of thiram to
Ministry of Agriculture officials in an email contained no explanation
of the dangers, nor any offer of special clothing or training for those
who will be farming with the toxic seeds.

Haitian social movements’ concern is not just about the dangers of the chemicals and the possibility of future GMO imports. They claim that
the future of Haiti depends on local production with local food for
local consumption, in what is called food sovereignty. Monsanto’s
arrival in Haiti, they say, is a further threat to this.

“People in the U.S. need to help us produce, not give us food and seeds. They’re ruining our chance to support ourselves,” said farmer
Jonas Deronzil of a peasant cooperative in the rural region of
Verrettes.[5]

Monsanto’s history has long drawn ire from environmentalists, health advocates, and small farmers, going back to its production of Agent
Orange during the Vietnam war. Exposure to Agent Orange has caused
cancer in an untold number of U.S. Veterans, and the Vietnamese
government claims that 400,000 Vietnamese people were killed or disabled
by Agent Orange, and 500,000 children were born with birth defects as a
result of their exposure.[6]

Monsanto’s former motto, “Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible,” has been replaced by “Imagine.” Its web site home page
claims it “help[s] farmers around the world produce more while
conserving more. We help farmers grow yield sustainably so they can be
successful, produce healthier foods… while also reducing agriculture's
impact on our environment.”[7] The corporations’ record does not support
the claims.

Together with Syngenta, Dupont and Bayer, Monsanto controls more than half of the world’s seeds.[8] The company holds almost 650 seed
patents, most of them for cotton, corn and soy, and almost 30% of the
share of all biotech research and development. Monsanto came to own such
a vast supply by buying major seed companies to stifle competition,
patenting genetic modifications to plant varieties, and suing small
farmers. Monsanto is also one of the leading manufacturers of GMOs.

As of 2007, Monsanto had filed 112 lawsuits against U.S. farmers for alleged technology contract violations or GMO patents, involving 372
farmers and 49 small agricultural businesses in 27 different states.
From these, Monsanto has won more than $21.5 million in judgments. The
multinational appears to investigate 500 farmers a year, in estimates
based on Monsanto’s own documents and media reports.[9]

“Farmers have been sued after their field was contaminated by pollen or seed from someone else’s genetically engineered crop [or] when
genetically engineered seed from a previous year’s crop has sprouted, or
‘volunteered,’ in fields planted with non-genetically engineered
varieties the following year,” said Andrew Kimbrell and Joseph Mendelson
of the Center for Food Safety.[10]

In Colombia, Monsanto has received upwards of $25 million from the U.S. government for providing Roundup Ultra in the anti-drug fumigation
efforts of Plan Colombia. Roundup Ultra is a highly concentrated version
of Monsanto's glyphosate herbicide, with additional ingredients to
increase its lethality. Colombian communities and human rights
organizations have charged that the herbicide has destroyed food crops,
water sources and protected areas, and has led to increased incidents of
birth defects and cancers.

Vía Campesina, the world’s largest confederation of farmers with member organizations in more than sixty countries, has called Monsanto
one of the “principal enemies of peasant sustainable agriculture and
food sovereignty for all peoples.”[11] They claim that as Monsanto and
other multinationals control an ever larger share of land and
agriculture, they force small farmers out of their land and jobs. They
also claim that the agribusiness giants contribute to climate change and
other environmental disasters, an outgrowth of industrial
agriculture.[12]

The Vía Campesina coalition launched a global campaign against Monsanto last October 16, on International World Food Day, with
protests, land occupations, and hunger strikes in more than twenty
countries. They carried out a second global day of action against
Monsanto on April 17 of this year, in honor of Earth Day.

Non-governmental organizations in the U.S. are challenging Monsanto’s practices, too. The Organic Consumers Association has spearheaded the
campaign “Millions Against Monsanto,” calling on the company to stop
intimidating small family farmers, stop marketing untested and unlabeled
genetically engineered foods to consumers, and stop using billions of
dollars of U.S. taypayers' money to subsidize GMO crops.[13]

The Center for Food Safety has led a four-year legal challenge to Monsanto that has just made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. After
successful litigation against Monsanto and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture for illegal promotion of Roundup Ready Alfalfa, the court
heard the Center for Food Safety’s case on April 27. A decision on this
first-ever Supreme Court case about GMOs is now pending.[14]

“Fighting hybrid and GMO seeds is critical to save our diversity and our agriculture,” Jean-Baptiste said in an interview in February. “We
have the potential to make our lands produce enough to feed the whole
population and even to export certain products. The policy we need for
this to happen is food sovereignty, where the county has a right to
define it own agricultural policies, to grow first for the family and
then for local market, to grow healthy food in a way which respects the
environment and Mother Earth.”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/5/17/867193/-Haitian-Farmers...