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　　GM soy: the high cost of the quest for 'green gold'

　　Scientists and villagers in rural Paraguay are questioning the health and environmental impact of GM soy. Louise Gray reports.

　　The green shack where Petrona Villasboa lives in Itapuã is surrounded by shimmering fields. It represents a lucrative golden harvest for some but, for this grieving mother, it has become a symbol of death. The crop that dominates this impoverished area of rural southern Paraguay is genetically modified (GM) soy, and she blames it for her son's death. "Soy destroys people's lives," Petrona says. "It is a poison. It is no way to live."

　　Sitting outside her home, the mother of eight describes the day in January 2003 when 11-year-old Silvino Talavera arrived home. He had cycled to the stalls by the nearest main road to buy some meat and rice for a family meal.

　　"I was washing clothes down by the river, and he came to tell me that as he'd ridden along the community road, which runs through the soy fields, he'd been sprayed by one of the 'mosquitoes'," she says. (''Mosquitoes'' are what locals call the pesticide or herbicide crop-spraying machines pulled by tractors.) "He smelt so bad that he took his clothes off and jumped straight in the water."

　　Petrona did not think much more about it. For peasant communities living amid the soy fields, chemical spraying is a frequent occurrence. But later that day, she says the whole family fell ill after eating the food that Silvino had bought.

　　"Silvino was violently sick. He said, 'Mummy, my bones ache' and then his skin went black'," she says.

　　By the time they had begged a lift to the nearest hospital. Silvino was unable to move. His stomach was pumped, but he had lost consciousness. Petrona was told her son was ''paralysed by intoxication''. All doctors could do was to offer pain relief. Within a few hours he was dead.

　　His family were in no doubt that his death was caused by his exposure to the crop spray, but no autopsy was carried out. It was only after years of campaigning that Petrona managed to have the case heard in court. In 2006, two farmers were each sentenced to two years in jail for manslaughter. According to Petrona, the men, who are her neighbours, have never served their sentence, and she continues to fight for justice.

　　Now Silvino's story has been taken up by environmentalists concerned about the spreadof GM crops in parts of the world where communities have little power to fight back when bigagri-businesses arrive in town.

　　The latest figures from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-BiotechApplications show that almost 150 million hectares of land was planted with GM crops last year, 10 per cent more than in 2009. The fastest growing areas are in Brazil, Argentina and otherSouth American countries where GM soy grows fast, needs little input and is in demand. In2010, some 33 million tons of soy (GM and non-GM) were exported to Europe, mostly foranimal feed. Britain took three million tons, but the Food Standards Agency is unable to sayhow much was GM.

　　The economies of these developing countries are receiving a boost, but groups such asFriends of the Earth (FoE) are concerned by this "soya boom". It is not only the"Frankenfoods" fears about the long-term effects of transgenic seeds in the food chain. FoEclaims that "green gold" is displacing small farmers from their land and may even be poisoningcommunities.

　　On a recent visit to Paraguay with FoE, I saw trees burning in areas of deforestation andmet people who claim to have been "poisoned" by chemicals used to grow GM crops.Over thepast 12 months in Paraguay, the area planted with soy has grown to a record 2.6 millionhectares, and most of it is GM. The World Land Trust estimates that more than 90 per cent ofthe Atlantic Rainforest in the south has been lost to make way for crops, taking with itthousands of unique bird and plant species and endangered animals, such as the jaguar.

　　Now agri-businesses and large-scale farmers are targeting the Gran Chaco, an area of dry forest that is just as important to wildlife. In a short flight over the vast area, there was clear evidence of deforestation, in the long lines of trees felled for burning.

　　The impact on communities is also cause forconcern, according to FoE. Thousands of peopleclaim to have been driven off the land that hassustained them for centuries. In the main square inthe capital Asuncion, indigenous people have set upcamp, and tarpaulin shacks by the sides of the roadare a common sight now. FoE estimates that 100,000 people have been driven into the urbanslums because of the expansion of soy production in Paraguay.

　　In Itakyru, in the east of the country, a forest community claims that poisons "rained fromthe sky", resulting in women and children being taken to hospital.

　　Amnesty International has confirmed that a number of communities have complained thataerial spraying is being used to force people to leave their homes so that the land can bereclaimed for soy production. This has resulted in civil disturbance, with armed men brought into guard crops.

　　Dr Miguel Lovera, head of Paraguay's environment agency, Senave, says aerial sprayingshould not have been carried out in areas where indigenous people were living. He also agreesSilvino was certainly killed by ''acute intoxication with pesticides".

　　A small Paraguayan 2006 study reported in the Journal of the American Academy ofPediatrics found women living within 1km of sprayed fields were twice as likely to give birth to achild with deformities.

　　Dr Lovera's greatest concern about the GM soy boom his country is enjoying is theirresponsible use of chemicals used to protect the GM crops from weeds and infestation.

　　Most of the GM soy planted in Paraguay is a variant known as RoundUp Ready Resistant,which is resistant to a common weed killer, glyphosate. Farmers can use it without harming thecrop, and biotech companies claim they use less because only weeds are targeted.

　　Dr Lovera says the amount of pesticide used in Paraguay has grown tenfold over the past10 years to 200 million tons in 2006. This is not a problem in itself as glyphosate, if used asdirected, is safe, according to manufacturers. But Dr Lovera says that the huge profits to bemade from growing GM soy, local corruption and a lack of regulation is driving many farmersto buy cheaper brands, mixing chemicals with no idea of the consequences, and spraying nearpeople's homes.

　　He is leading the Paraguayan Government's efforts to stop farmers spraying within fiftymetres of people's homes, in a strong wind or in high temperatures.

　　"The picnic is over," he says. "Farmers should start being serious and professional, andcomply with the law."

　　British consumers have a role to play, too, according to Oskar Rivas, the EnvironmentMinister in Paraguay's new socialist government. GM soy might not be grown in the UK but it ispart of our daily diet. A recent investigation by The Daily Telegraph found that everysupermarket in Britain stocks meat and dairy from animals that could have been fed GM soy, aswell as possibly being used in brands including Cadbury and Unilever.

　　"You have the right to demand cheap milk and meat but you also have the right to demandmilk and meat from environmentally sound sources," says Señor Rivas.

　　While Sr Rivas accepts it is too late to stop GM being grown in Paraguay, he insists thatmore non-GM could also be grown. He points to the lead taken by Paraná state in Brazil, wherethe local government is promoting non-GM soy as a premium crop.

　　New initiatives, such as the Round Table on Responsible Soy, backed by the World WildlifeFund, will encourage this sort of production by issuing a new label for soy – including GM – in asustainable way. Some British supermarkets are already signing up. In addition, Friends of theEarth International is working with a local charity, Sobrevivência, to teach communitiesenvironmental law and organic farming techniques.

　　"At the moment we are all losing out," says Paraguayan Sr Rivas. "With a differentstructural process we could all win."