A new AP story focuses on the biotech company’s response to a report on the impact its chemicals have had in Argentina.<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n
Following its lengthy, richly reported story about the impacts Monsanto has had on the health of Argentines<\/a> living in the South American country\u2019s farm belt, the Associated Press<\/a> was back yesterday with a quietly combative follow up addressing the biotech company’s response to the article.<\/p>\n \u201cIf pesticides are being misused in Argentina, then it is in everyone\u2019s best interests\u2014the public, the government, farmers, industry, and Monsanto\u2014that the misuse be stopped,\u201d the company said in response to the story, which documented the poor oversight, misuses and routine exposure of farmworkers and residents to agrochemicals sold by Monsanto in Argentina.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s as far as the corporation went in acknowledging its part in the astonishingly high rates of cancer and birth defects that have plagued parts of Argentina in the years following Monsanto\u2019s introduction to the local ag market. Rather, it continually pointed to the fact that glyphosate<\/a>, the pesticide marketed as Roudup, is \u201csafe.\u201d<\/p>\n The medical community in Argentina would beg to differ\u2014and has astonishing numbers to support their case. One physician who runs a epidemiological study at the National University of Rosario Medical School \u201chas found a 90 percent increase in cancer rates since 1997.\u201d Monsanto products were first introduced in 1996.<\/p>\n The response story continues: \u201cArgentine doctors interviewed by the AP said their caseloads\u2014not laboratory experiments\u2014show an apparent correlation between the arrival of intensive industrial agriculture and rising rates of cancer and birth defects in rural communities, and they\u2019re calling for broader, longer-term studies to rule out agrochemical exposure as a cause of these and other illnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n And yet Monsanto apparently took issue with the story for \u201clacking in specifics about health impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n ___________________________<\/p>\n Willy Blackmore is TakePart\u2019s Food editor. He has written for The Awl, LA Weekly, and elsewhere.<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n Related stories:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n \u2022 Monsanto Brings High Yields\u2014And More Cancer\u2014to Argentina<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n \u2022 Even Dirtier Food, Brought to You by the Environmental Protection Agency<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n \u2022 Apples Top the “Dirty Dozen” List of Most Pesticide-Contaminated Produce<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n