The outdoor experiments with transgenic crops have high environmental and health risks.
Given the numerous cases of contamination worldwide organizations are asking the government for greater transparency and rigor around transgenics. Spain has become the testing ground of the multinationals because the Government has hidden their exact location.
So Spain hosts 67% of all experiments performed in Europe [3].
Has also been the site chosen by the British company Oxitec for the first release of transgenic flies worldwide, pending authorization experiment. [4] While other European countries publish this information on official websites, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment has hidden this information for many years.
Transparency is essential for a serious debate on the use of transgenic occurs.
In providing the information late, the government has breached the Aarhus Convention and the law of access to environmental information, said Victoria Anderica Access-Info Europe. The 80% of requests for experimentation in Spain are conducted by multinational companies with Bayer in the lead with sixteen applications, followed by Monsanto and KWS six experiments each.
Both Bayer and Monsanto have a known history of contamination scandals: rice in 2006 was Bayer who invaded the food chain, this year it was the turn of Monsanto, responsible for the case of contamination with wheat turned upside down the world market wheat last summer, White said Ruibal Almentación for Agriculture and Friends of the Tierra. The most requested in 2012 and 2013 by biotech companies experiments have taken place in unknown locations of Castilla y León, many with transgenic beet.
The beet growing is very important in the region.
The farmers do not want GM beet experiments, if our crops would contaminate serious problems to market our production, said Priscillian Losada, Technical Secretary, COAG Castilla y León.El risk of contamination is very high in the case of beet, due to which is a plant whose pollen reaches great distances.
Although not native, feral populations exist in many areas beet [5]. Transgenic not benefit the country.
A living countryside is only possible with a friendly farming environment, diverse and small scale.
Transgenic represent the opposite pattern, only benefit large multinationals while the farmers have to leave the field, said Jerome Aguado Platform Rural.Las organizacionesdenuncian also the absence of information from the Ministries of Agriculture of the Autonomous Communities with to approve the conduct of experimental fields in their territories.
Its management is characterized as the central government for opacity.
Organizations demand that law enforcement this information is published directly by the administración.
Notes: [1] List of organizations in Rural Platform http://www.plataformarural.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id = 167 & Itemid = 48
[2] List of experiments in 2012 and 2013 proporcionado requested by MAGRAMA http://www.tierra.org/spip/IMG/pdf/LOC_Y_SUP_LIB_VOL_2011_2013_SOLICIT_CULTIVOS.pdfMapa with the exact location of the plots of AgriculturaEspañahttps experimentaciónMás sobreGobiernoMonsantoBayerMinisterio: ? / / mapsengine.google.com / map / edit zqGOJ-nJlwiU.kqomQHBPB mid =-f4
[3] Press Release Friends of the Earth 67% of transgenic experiments outside the EU are made in Spain: http://www.tierra.org/spip/spip.php?article1773
[4] Press release from Friends of the Earth With the fly (GM) behind the ear little information and a lot of risks: http://www ? .tierra.org / spip / spip.php article1834
[5] Press several organizations: New scientific evidence draw attention to the threat of transgenic crops and biodiversity.
(Friends of the Earth)