This chilling statement came from Enric Navarro, an organic
maize [corn] grower from Girona in Spain whose farm has been
dedicated to organic maize cultivation for the last four years.
This year his crop was contaminated by genetically engineered [GE]
maize. He doesn't know where it came from. It could have been
from any non-organic field, quite literally, anywhere on the
wind.
When GE crops are allowed to "coexist" in the open with organic
crops, what you sow isn't always what you reap.
Enric chose to burn nearly two-thirds of his organic maize crop
after testing revealed up to 12.6 percent of it was contaminated
with GE, rather than sell his crop at a premium through the organic
market.
He followed his conscience. He suffered a massive economic
loss.
And he isn't alone. Other organic farmers have burned their
crops rather than allow them to further contaminate the Spanish
maize market.
Enric Navarro
"I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I got into the
conventional market with contaminated maize. Even though I know
that there are thousands of hectares of GE maize and that our food
chain is flooded with it, I felt I could at least intervene in
stopping my own production. This act was done to publicly denounce
the situation we are currently living with here in Cataluña with
GE." Said Enric.
The choice facing his home region is clear to Enric: "If
Cataluña abandons GE, I will continue to make organic maize. If not
the organic maize will disappear. That simple. That sad."
More stories like Enric's are highlighted in a new report, '
Impossible Coexistence,' which was recently released by
Greenpeace and two Spanish NGOs, Assemblea Pagesa and civil society
group 'Plataforma Trangènics Fora!'. The report documents Spain's
reckless adoption of genetically engineered maize and the
subsequent disasters that have befallen many of the conventional
and organic farmers in two of the main GE growing regions Aragón
and Cataluña.
A conference on so-called coexistence is underway in Vienna
where EU delegates will decide on the future of GE cultivation.
Economic losses like Enric's are a grim reminder of why
countries should close the door to genetic pollution, especially as
consumers do not want it and markets are closed to this unsafe
technology.
Enric had this advice to the politicians: "To solve the GE
problem and its social, environmental and health implications, the
only option is to not cultivate a type of crop that the citizens do
not want."
We agree.
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