From The Big Picture - Boston.com
News Stories in Pictures
Potential effects of agrochemicals in Argentina
Agrochemical
spraying in Argentina has increased ninefold, from 9 million gallons in
1990 to 84 million gallons today. Yet the South American nation has a
hodgepodge of widely ignored regulations that leave people dangerously
exposed, and chemicals contaminate homes, classrooms, and drinking
water. Doctors and scientists are warning that uncontrolled spraying
could be causing health problems across the nation. ( 17 photos )
1.- Soybeans
ready for harvest are bathed in afternoon light near Rawson, in Buenos
Aires province, Argentina on April 16. American biotechnology has turned
Argentina into the world's third-largest soybean producer, but the
chemicals powering the boom aren't confined to soy, cotton, and corn
fields. They routinely contaminate homes and classrooms and drinking
water. A growing chorus of doctors and scientists is warning that their
uncontrolled use could be responsible for the increasing number of
health problems turning up in hospitals across the South American
nation. (Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press) .
2.- Empty agrochemical containers including Monsanto's
Round Up products lay discarded at a recycling center in Quimili,
Santiago del Estero province, Argentina on May 2. Instead of a lighter
chemical burden in Argentina, agrochemical spraying has increased
ninefold, from 9 million gallons in 1990 to 84 million gallons today.
Glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto's Round Up products, is used
roughly eight to ten times more per acre than in the United States. Yet
Argentina doesn't apply national standards for farm chemicals, leaving
rule-making to the provinces and enforcement to the municipalities.
(Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press) .
3.-Girls
use slingshots next to a biotech soybean plantation in Avia Terai, in
Chaco province, Argentina on May 31. The country's entire soybean crop
and nearly all its corn and cotton have become genetically modified in
the 17 years since St. Louis-based Monsanto Company promised huge yields
with fewer pesticides using its patented seeds and chemicals. Instead,
the agriculture ministry says agrochemical spraying has increased
ninefold, from 9 million gallons in 1990 to 84 millions gallons today. (Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press).
4.- Camila Veron, 2, born with multiple organ problems
and severely disabled, stands outside her home in Avia Terai, in Chaco
province, Argentina on March 31. Doctors told Camila's mother, Silvia
Achaval, that agrochemicals may be to blame. It's nearly impossible to
prove that exposure to a specific chemical caused an individual's cancer
or birth defect, but doctors say these cases merit a rigorous
government investigation. "They told me that the water made this happen,
because they spray a lot of poison here," said Achaval. (Natacha
Pisarenko/Associated Press) .
5.- Activist Oscar Alfredo Di Vincensi talks on a cell
phone inside his tent during his one-man hunger strike demanding that
agrochemical spraying not be allowed within 1,000 meters of homes, in
the main square of Alberti, in Buenos Aires province, Argentina on April
16. Earlier this year, Di Vincensi stood in a field waving a court
order barring spraying within 1,000 meters of homes in his town of
Alberti; a tractor driver doused him in pesticide. (Natacha
Pisarenko/Associated Press) .
6.- Erika, left, and her twin sister Macarena, who
suffer from chronic respiratory illness, play in their backyard near
recycled agrochemical containers filled with water that are used for
flushing their toilet, feeding their chickens and washing their clothes,
near the town of Avia Terai, in Chaco province, Argentina on March 31.
(Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press).
7.- Felix San Roman walks on his property in Rawson, in
Buenos Aires province, Argentina on April 16. San Roman says that when
he complained about clouds of chemicals drifting into his yard, the
sprayers beat him up, fracturing his spine and knocking out his teeth.
"This is a small town where nobody confronts anyone, and the authorities
look the other way," San Roman said. "All I want is for them to follow
the existing law, which says you can't do this within 1,500 meters.
Nobody follows this. How can you control it?" (Natacha
Pisarenko/Associated Press).
8.- A protest sign directed to Argentine President
Cristina Fernandez and Cordoba Province governor Jose Manuel de la Sota
that reads in Spanish; "Stop looting and contaminating! Monsanto out of
Cordoba and Argentina," is posted on a fence where Monsanto is building
its largest seed production plant in Latin America in the town of
Malvinas Argentinas, in Cordoba province, Argentina on Sept. 25.
(Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press) .
9.- Students stand outside their rural school in Pozo del Toba, in Santiago del Estero province, Argentina on May 3. Most Argentine provinces limit how close spraying can be done in populated areas, with setbacks ranging from as little as 50 meters to as much as several kilometers. But The Associated Press found many cases of soybeans planted only a few feet from homes and schools, and chemicals mixed and loaded onto tractors inside residential neighborhoods. (Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press).
10.- Erika,
right, and her twin sister Macarena, who suffer from chronic
respiratory illness, stand inside their home in Avia Terai, in Chaco
province, Argentina on March 31. The twins' mother, Claudia Sariski,
whose home has no running water, says she doesn't let her children drink
from the discarded pesticide containers she keeps in her dusty
backyard. But her chickens do, and she has no other water to wash the
family's clothes with. (Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press).
11,- Empty
pesticide containers ready for recycling are collected inside an
enclosure by the farming business association in Gualeguaychu, in Entre
Rios province, Argentina on Sept. 23. Widely ignored Argentine health
minister guidelines recommend perforating empty containers to prevent
reuse by residents. The association says the containers will be recycled
into plastic tubing. (Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press) ,
12.- Dr. Andres Carrasco, a molecular biologist at the
University of Buenos Aires, pauses during an interview in Buenos Aires,
Argentina on July 8. Carrasco found that injecting very low doses of
glyphosate, a weed-killer, into embryos can change levels of retinoic
acid, causing the same sort of spinal defects in frogs and chickens that
doctors are increasingly registering in communities where farm
chemicals are ubiquitous. (Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press).
13.- Silvia Alvarez leans against her red brick home
while keeping an eye on her son, Ezequiel Moreno, who was born with
hydrocephalus, in Gancedo, in Chaco province, Argentina on April 1.
Alvarez blames continuous exposure to agrochemical spraying for two
miscarriages and her son's health problems. Chaco provincial birth
reports show that congenital defects quadrupled in the decade after
genetically modified crops and their related agrochemicals arrived.
(Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press) .
14.- Residents gather to speak with Dr. Damian
Verzenassi on health concerns they have about agrochemicals in the main
square of Alvear, in Santa Fe province, Argentina on March 9. In the
heart of Argentina's soybean business, house-to-house surveys of 65,000
people in farming communities found cancer rates two to four times
higher than the national average, as well as higher rates of
hypothyroidism and chronic respiratory illnesses. (Natacha
Pisarenko/Associated Press).
15.- Former
farmworker Fabian Tomasi, 47, shows the condition of his emaciated body
as he stands inside his home in Basavilbaso, in Entre Rios province,
Argentina on March 29. Tomasi's job was to keep the crop dusters flying
by quickly filling their tanks but he says he was never trained to
handle pesticides. Now he is near death from polyneuropathy. "I prepared
millions of liters of poison without any kind of protection, no gloves,
masks or special clothing. I didn't know anything. I only learned later
what it did to me, after contacting scientists," he said. (Natacha
Pisarenko/Associated Press) .
16.- Students ride a motorbike past a field of biotech
corn on their way to school in Pozo del Toba, Santiago del Estero
province, Argentina on May 3. American biotechnology has turned
Argentina into a commodities powerhouse, but the chemicals required
aren't confined to the fields. They routinely contaminate homes,
classrooms and drinking water. Now a growing chorus of doctors and
scientists is warning that uncontrolled spraying could be causing the
health problems turning up in hospitals across the South American
nation. (Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press).
17.- Aixa Cano, 5, who has hairy moles all over her body
that doctors can't explain, sits on a stoop outside her home in Avia
Terai, in Chaco province, Argentina on April 1. Although it's nearly
impossible to prove, doctors say Aixa's birth defect may be linked to
agrochemicals. In Chaco, children are four times more likely to be born
with devastating birth defects since biotechnology dramatically expanded
farming in Argentina. . (Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press)