Written by Elizabeth Renter, Natural Society, http://naturalsociety.com/anti-monsanto-protests-argentina-pesticide-illness-death/

Image from GMwatch.org

A new report reveals how Monsanto’s pesticides  are causing birth defects and cancer in Argentina. What’s more,  anti-Monsanto protests have sparked near farming communities due to massive  pesticide-induced illness.

“Children were being born with deformities,” says  Sofia Gatica, a mother in the community whose own children became ill.  “Little babies were being born with six fingers, without a jawbone, missing a  skull bone, with kidney deformities, without an anus – and a lot of mothers and  fathers were developing cancer.”

What this community and others with similar symptoms have in common is that  they are all near large fields sprayed with glyphosate by planes overhead.  Glyphosate is Monsanto’s herbicide, one that’s been proven  to cause birth defects and numerous poor health outcomes. Studies  from Argentina, as well as numerous other countries including the U.S., came  to these conclusions.

In Sofia’s community, the mothers joined forces, calling themselves the  Mothers of Ituzaingo. They took a survey, gathered from members of their  community, and presented it to their government demanding an investigation. The  government agreed.

The concerns of the Mothers of Ituzaingo aren’t unique to that  community—these same concerns are spreading across Argentina, where  cancer rates in such farming locations are sometimes two to four times  higher than the national average. In one village, Chaco, birth defects  reportedly quadrupled in the decade following the introduction of biotechnology  including glyphosate.

This growing opposition to Monsanto and its methods has not gone unnoticed by  the company or those who support it. Farmers who align with the GMO-giant are  openly critical of the protests. Gatica says one farmer came to her home and  threatened her with a shotgun. But she and her partners do not plan on  relenting.

Last year, a soy farmer in Argentina was found guilty of spraying herbicides  near residential areas, marking a victory for community health and  acknowledgement by the courts that these chemicals could have seriously profound  effects. But they still have a long way to go.

Gatica says they want the government to control the activities of soy farmers  more closely. She wants all GM-soy and related chemicals (including glyphosate)  banned and wants the companies who provide them to get out of Argentina. Because  the companies and soy farmers have no intention of leaving and because the  Argentinian government sees soy as necessary for food security, the fight is  definitely just heating up.

1. Environmental Award Won by Mother for Beating Monsanto
2. Woman Receives Anonymous Threats after Opposing Monsanto
3. Study Finds Monsanto’s Pesticide Chemical to Produce  Cancer-Causing Fungi
4. Argentinian Study Finds Roundup Ingredient Causes Birth  Defects
5. New Study Confirms GMO Crops Causing More Pesticide Use,  Superweeds
6. Monsanto’s  Roundup Continuously Shown to Cause Birth Defects