PAN(Pesticides Action Network) reports the recent signing of a letter of intent – between theFood and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and
CropLife International
, the organization of global pesticide and seed giants (1,2) – that could give rise to a #toxicalliance.
More than 350 organizations from 63 countries-representing farmers and ranchers, agricultural workers, human rights and the environment-as well as 250 scientists and researchers have already raised serious concerns, yet received an unsatisfactory response.
It is suggested today that each reader would like to add his or her name to a collective letter addressed to FAO Director-General Prof. Qu Dongyu. So that any assumptions of synergy between the UN agency and the agrotoxin industry are put aside once and for all. Here’s why.
Agroecology and farmers’ rights
Agroecology has been designated by FAO, in 2019, as the model to follow to innovate food systems in the direction of sustainable development. Under the banner of biodiversity of flora and fauna, protection of the environment (soil, water, air), protection of public health. (3)
The rights of farmers and rural communities, in turn, have been considered by the FAO Committee for Food Security and in special UN declaration (4,5). Their implementation postulates the availability of the means of production-beginning with seeds-and independence from the compulsion to use agrochemicals.
Opposing interests
The interests of Big Ag, in market economies, clearly cannot coincide with those of the community. Make maximum profit rather, by stimulating maximum dependence of farmers on agrotoxics that only old and new GMOs can resist.
The crisis of agricultural systems based on agrochemicals has been demonstrated in the U.S., (6) although corporations have tried to mask the evidence with repeated scientific fraud (7,8). Even through CropLife International itself, as seen in the case of neonicotinoids. (9) But the same strategy is now being conducted in other countries, such as Brazil and Argentina.
The deprivation of rights on genetic resources – carried out by Big Ag through UPOV (The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.) – under free trade agreements (Free Trade Agreements, FTA) -also moves in the opposite direction to the demands of peasant movements and food sovereignty. (10)
Stopping the #toxicalliance. Letter from PAN to FAO
PAN’s letter to the FAO director general, which each of us can sign at this link, reads as follows.
‘Dear Director General Qu Dongyu,
We are writing to express our grave concern about the plan to strengthen official ties with CropLife International. We strongly urge you to reconsider this alliance.
This collaboration with CropLife, an association of companies that produce and promote dangerous pesticides, directly undermines FAO’s priority of minimizing the harms of chemical pesticide use worldwide. Dependence on hazardous pesticides undermines the right to adequate food and health for present and future generations. More than one-third of sales by CropLife member companies are highly hazardous pesticides that pose the highest levels of risk to health or the environment.
Recent estimates show that there are 385 million cases of acute pesticide poisoning each year, compared with an estimated 25 million cases in 1990. This means that about 44 percent of the world’s farmers and farm workers are poisoned each year by an industry dominated by CropLife members. Pesticides produced by CropLife member companies decimate pollinating insect populations and are destroying biodiversity and already fragile ecosystems.’
Dystonia
‘CropLife’s sole purpose is to support the use of its members’ products-both antiquated chemical solutions and genetically modified seeds-which bind farmers to ever-increasing use of pesticides, along with patented seeds that have systematically undermined the rights and welfare of the majority of the world’s food producers.
A partnership with CropLife represents a perpetuation of this deeply unjust and unsustainable system. It diminishes your agency’s critical-and urgently needed-support for agroecology, which FAO itself notes “can support food production, food security and nutrition while restoring ecosystem services and biodiversity that are essential for sustainable agriculture’.
Interim conclusions
‘We strongly urge you,’ the Pesticides Action Network letter concludes, ‘to continue to support the transition to people-driven agroecology, and to break this deeply inappropriate alliance with an industry that places profit interests above those of public welfare and the planet.’
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Dario Dongo. Seeds, the 4 masters of the world. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 14.1.19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/sementi-i-4-padroni-del-mondo
(2) Dario Dongo. Pesticides, we are all guinea pigs of Big 4. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 23.8.19. https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/pesticidi-siamo-tutti-cavie-di-big-4
(3) Dario Dongo, Camilla Fincardi. Agroecology, SDGs, salvation. FAO’s decalogue. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 12.4.20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/agroecologia-sdgs-salvezza-il-decalogo-della-fao
(4) Dario Dongo. FAO, China in charge. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 6/27/19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/fao-la-cina-al-comando
(5) Dario Dongo. Farmers’ rights, UN Declaration. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 11/23/18, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/diritti-dei-contadini-dichiarazione-onu
(6) Dario Dongo. Pesticides, acute toxicity in the US agricultural system. Scientific study. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 25.8.19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/pesticidi-tossicità-acuta-nel-sistema-agricolo-usa-studio-scientifico
(7) Dario Dongo. Glyphosate, the fake studies used by Bayer for renewal of authorization. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 8.12.19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/glifosato-gli-studi-falsi-usati-da-bayer-per-il-rinnovo-dell-autorizzazione
(8) Dario Dongo. Glyphosate, more fraud in scientific studies produced by ‘Corporations’. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 16.2.20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/sicurezza/glifosato-altre-frodi-negli-studi-scientifici-prodotti-dalle-corporation
(9) Marina De Nobili, Dario Dongo. Neonicotinoids, investigation of pesticide lobbies. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 7.1.20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/sicurezza/neonicotinoidi-inchiesta-sulle-lobby-dei-pesticidi
(10) Stop UPOV global alliance. Trade deals pushing UPOV: an interactive map. Grain. 1.12.21, https://grain.org/en/article/6768-trade-deals-pushing-upov-an-interactive-map
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
