Protesters in Argentina force Monsanto to destroy GMO seed manufacturing plant

Saturday, August 27, 2016 by: Amy Goodrich
Tags: GMOs, Monsanto, Argentina

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(NaturalNews) After a three-year-long battle between multinational corporation Monsanto and local Malvinas citizens and anti-GMO campaigners from across Argentina, one of Monsanto's half-completed multi-million dollar GMO seed plants will be dismantled. According to March Against Monsanto, the plant would have been Monsanto's second largest operation in Latin America.

In 2014, activists forced Monsanto to stop the construction of the facility through well-coordinated protests at the construction site. Ever since the building of the site was put on hold, protesters have been marching, petitioning and talking to the government as well as Monsanto to urge them to abandon their plan to build the GMO seed facility.

The protests in Argentina have been marked by two words that made their point very clear: "Fuera Monsanto," which translates as "Get out Monsanto."

Adios Monsanto

As reported by Sustainable Pulse, the Fuera Monsanto activists scored a huge victory earlier this month when Monsanto announced it would dismantle the controversial seed plant in the town of Malvinas.

"The plant was designed to treat 3.5 million hectares of maize, however last year only 2.5 million hectares were sown," an unnamed Monsanto spokesman said. "An investment of almost 1500 million makes no sense," he added.

While the spokesman claimed financial concerns to be the primary reason for the decision, he also admitted that the local pressure and blockades of the construction site by Malvinas residents and anti-GMO environmentalists did play a part in the decision to halt the construction of the site.

Also, there are still lawsuits ongoing over the illegality of the Malvinas construction permit and the environmental impacts of the project, according to Sustainable Pulse.

The fight isn't over

Monsanto and Argentina are no strangers to each other. As stated by the Underground Reporter, Monsanto is well known by the people for manufacturing chemicals like Agent Orange, toxic plastics and GM soy in Argentina. Furthermore, Monsanto has been responsible for changing the country's beef from a grass-fed diet to one consisting of GMO grain.

While news of the impediment to the expansion of GMO seed production in at least one Argentinian town is a big win, Sofia Gatica, one of the leaders of the blockade of the Monsanto plant, said the protesters will remain on alert.

She told Inf'OGM that while it has been almost three years since Monsanto laid down a brick or put up any wire construction, the company has still to recognize their defeat in this battle. Until the site has been entirely dismantled, Sofia said they will continue blocking the plant to see what will happen. Once Monsanto has left town, the protesters hope the site will turn into an organic and sustainable agriculture environment.

Defeats such as the failed seed plant in Argentina are very important, however, Monsanto will stop at nothing to achieve global domination of the food supply. Therefore it is crucial to keep raising our voices and to opt for organic or homegrown food, so as to boycott Monsanto's plans and avoid their further expansion across the globe.

(Photo credit: RT)

Sources for this article include:

March-Against-Monsanto.com

SustainablePulse.com

UndergroundReporter.org