Peru to be a “genetically modified free country”?
Antonio Brack, Peru’s minister of environment, seems ready to throw his weight (however inconsiderable that may be politically) behind a declation of Peru as a “país libre de transgénicos”, that is, to a country without genetically modified produce. El Comercio reports [esp] that Brack informed the Peruvian Congress that he will “evaluate quite objectively” the possibility of blocking the introduction of genetically engineered foods in the country while warning against the risks of such products. The minister believes that the “free country” distinction would ensure that Peru conserves the genetic makeup of its agricultural products, which include “3,000 varieties of potato, 55 of corn and 1,500 of sweet potato”, that have been engineering naturally for millennia. Organic farming earns Peru about $160 million in exports, and it appears that Brack thinks that such trade potential will outweigh the proponents of bioengineering in Peru.
Read a Google-translated version of the article here, or visit RPP Noticias to watch a Nova-FRONTLINE segment on the risks of genetically modified foods dubbed in Spanish. Now that’s some globalization.
[...] Peru to be a “genetically modified free country”? [...]
Good Luck Chuck: A blog.
Sunday, September 21, 2008 at 3:17 pm
[...] indicated that no further debate would be take place regarding to genetically modified foods, which I wrote about last week, until next year due to more pressing matters before the [...]
The $400 mil mining bill, and other news from this weekend « Good Luck Chuck: A blog.
Sunday, September 21, 2008 at 3:18 pm
That would be excellent for Peru if it could keep its agriculture sector out of transgenics. Great for the public health and also good for business w/Europe, which has taken a firm stand against genetically modified food. It would be hard to reconcile Peru’s developing identity as a top organic producer w/a growth in modified foods in the country.
Chuck, do you think Peru can successfully avoid the invasion of modified foods? Is there enough support in the agro industry?
I believe it’s in Peru’s best interest to stay away from GM farming, but I’m unsure that business interests in Peru realize the importance of this issue.
Barb
Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I would be comfortable saying that Peru will probably see an expansion of gm farming in the future. Why do I say that? If I may turn a phrase, I would like to say that the business of Peru’s leaders is business. (No, this isn’t an indirect endorsement of Ollanta.) Unless there is to be a strong gatekeeper who draws a line in the fields and holds his/her ground against inevitable GM industry interest in Peru, GM foods will creep in. As with almost all invasive species, once it’s here it has already won have the battle.
Brack’s a good man, but he’s no such Colossus.
Chuck
Friday, October 3, 2008 at 9:53 am
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Monday, October 6, 2008 at 12:32 pm