The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

266 the world according to monsanto“It’s like a fever, an epidemic,” Gianfelici said, pointing to the notoriouschorizos, the sausage-shaped silos that are now scattered along the roadsidesbecause there is no other place to store the enormous quantities of soybeans.The doctor became an anti-GMO activist not out of ideology but becausehe was worried by the evolution of the illnesses he was encounteringin his practice. “I don’t know whether biotechnology is a danger for publichealth,” he explains, “but I denounce the damages to health caused by themassive spraying of Roundup, as well as the excessive consumption of RRsoybeans.” He mentioned the toxicity of glyphosate and especially of thesurfactants, the inert substances that enable glyphosate to penetrate intothe plant, such as polyethoxylated tallowamine. In Argentina more thanelsewhere, Monsanto’s advertising assuring that Roundup is “biodegradable”and “good for the environment” resulted in many people failing to take anyprecautions during spraying, which means that the substance has contaminatedthe entire environment: air, soil, and water table. All the while therepresentative of the state, Miguel Campos, has claimed with completeconfidence that “Roundup is the least toxic herbicide there is.”Gianfelici was certain: “Several colleagues in the region and I haveobserved a very significant increase in reproductive anomalies such as miscarriagesand premature fetal death; malfunctions of the thyroid, the respiratorysystem—such as pulmonary edemas—the kidneys, and the endocrinesystem; liver and skin diseases; and severe eye problems. We are also worriedby the effects that might be caused by Roundup residues ingested byconsumers of soybeans, because we know that some surfactants are endocrinedisruptors. We have observed in the region a significant number ofcases of cryptorchism and hypospadias* in boys, and hormonal malfunctionsin girls, some of whom have their periods as young as three.”There are few like Gianfelici who dare to raise their voices against thedevastating effects of the all-soybean policy. Of course, organizations suchas Greenpeace and the radical ecologists of the Grupo de Reflexión Ruralhad denounced the marketing of GMOs and pointed out the dangers ofbiotechnology, but they were preaching in the wilderness. “With the crisis,there were thousands of other problems,” according to Horacio Verbitsky, a*Cryptorchism is a birth defect characterized by undescended testicles; hypospadias is a malformationof the urethra (it does not reach the tip of the penis).