Agro, Business, Politics

Ten Year Ban on Genetically Modified Seeds and Foods Takes Force Thursday

A 10-year ban on genetically modified foods in Peru came into effect this week, state news agency Andina reported.

Peru’s executive has approved the regulations for the law that prohibits the importation, production and use of GMO foods in the country.

Violating the law can result in a maximum fine of 10,000 UIT tax units, which is about 36.5 million soles ($14 million). The goods can also be seized and destroyed, according to the norms.

The law, which was approved by President Ollanta Humala last year, is aimed at preserving Peru’s biodiversity and supporting local farmers, Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar Vidal said.

Peru’s previous administration, under President Alan Garcia, had supported the proposal to use genetically modified organisms. The initiative came from Peru’s private-sector export society, known as Comex, and strongly supported by Ministry of Agriculture advisors at the time. Their focus was mainly on boosting crop output for biofuels and .

However, then Environment minister Antonio Brack, whose portfolio was created by Garcia —basically paying lip service to requirements of the Free Trade Act with the United States— successfully fought the initiative and with environmental groups generated public awareness of the issues involved.   

Besides protecting an increasing export industry of organic and native products,  the ban protects Peru’s exceptionally varied native plant species —the import and use of GM seeds for corn, for example, would eventually destroy the different and multicolored species grown in the Andean region.

However, despite the fact that the ban will certainly protect Peru’s crops, more than 70% of the foods on the supermarket shelves in Peru contain GMOs, according to Crisólogo Cáceres, president of APEC, the association of consumers and users, in an interview with Gestion business daily. Some are labeled as such, some are not —the consumer protection law says consumers have a right to know what they are eating or drinking but institutions within the government are working to extend the deadline again for a further year.

18 Comments

  1. Fantastic!

    Thank you, Ministry of Environment.

    Everyone should watch the documentary film “The World According to Monsanto”

    It’s very, very scary!

  2. Peru must not allow the multinational corporations such as Monsanto introduce GMO crops into Peru. Once they get mixed with in with indigenous food crops, the GMO poison will be here to stay. Peru’s food crops will be will be worthless in the future. There are many well researched studies into GMO food crops that show severe health issues directly caused by consumption of GMO foods. All of Monsanto’s studies on the safety of their crops are 90 days or less. Independent university studies for up to one year have proven the GMO foods are very toxic, with most lab animals getting various cancers within 6 months, many of the studies have not last for more than a year because most of the lab rats died. Many doctors in the states and europe are now making the connection between the consumption of GMO foods and digestion systems diseases. GMO corn introduced into Mexico has wiped out most indigenous corn strains, now lost forever. Peru shouldn’t make that mistake and lose thousands of years of biodiversity in it’s food crops, for the benefit of a foreign corporation’s profit margins. We will see if Peruvian politicians really love their country or bow down to a corrupt foreign corporation and allow their poisons to be introduced in Peru.

    • The post by Roy is wrong in many ways. The cited work on cancer has been shown to be deeply flawed. Please provide real citations to studies on diseases tied to gmos (there are none). Ditto on Mexico.

      It is sad to see an amazing technology shut down by people who do not understand the science…. the sky is falling…. the earth is flat, if God wanted us to fly he (or she) would have given us wings…
      meanwhile millions lay in bed tonight suffering from malnutrition and poverty

      • A simple Google search provides many test results linking genetically modified foods to cancer, you troll. How does a global food monopoly by MonSatan, or any other biotech company help with poverty? Forcing absolute dependency on these companies for products these poor farmers can’t afford (let’s not forget that all these “wonderful” seeds require tons of pesticides and poisons since their “resistances” to pests and disease consistently fail), will only further increase the debt load for these poor nations. The goals of science are to help the human experience of life, not rob people and create tyrannies.

        I say koodos to Peru, and I hope more countries follow suit. I’ve already signed the petition for mandatory GMO labeling in Canada at http:// www. avaaz. org/en/petition/Bring_Mandatory_GMO_Labeling_To_Canada/?pv=20

      • You eat it then- I shall not. You are brainwashed. Monsanto needs to be stopped. Get them out of the USA!

      • Wake up Mark! It is not about science, it’s about profit. It’s not about feeding the hungry and eliminating poverty. It’s about selling more roundup and chemicals and making more money for Monsanto and other chemical companies who are in bed with some government agencies. GMOs have been around for about 20 years now and there are still many people living in poverty and going to bed hungry. Now there is more sickness and disease from malnutrition as a result of unsafe, contaminated GMOs and more people are living in poverty as a result of corporate greed and government payoffs for the few. Granted there may be some use for ethical use of science in GMOs down the road but right now GMO science is being used for greed and corruption. Either wake up and be responsible researcher or go back to sleep and watch corporate controlled mainstream media for your Monsanto fed propaganda information.

      • Leaving out the French cancer study, recent reports have begun showing that GM crops are not increasing yield and are in fact causing increased use of herbicides and pesticides as nature adapts and weeds and insects become more resistant. Is the answer to keep adding more and more chemicals to the environment while we wipe out crop diversity?

      • Mark, I like your analogy that GMO foods are similar to other historical technological advances that were initially feared. I really hope GMOs are actually harmless, but only time will tell and I think caution is warranted. Industrial farming methods generally and GMO’s specifically promote monocultures which decrease variety and genetic diversity in farming. I think this puts us at risk of disease and food shortages and makes us more dependent on oil production to achieve these high yields.

        Two other points: 1. The massive increases in global crop yields we have seen since the advent of industrial agriculture are paralleled by increases in the human population. Hunger and poverty aren’t decreasing much anymore because while the world produces more calories than it’s people need to survive, the rich world gets more than it needs and the poor world less. More food production could cause a new boom in population that would accelerate the exhaustion of the world’s other resources while not alleviating hunger and poverty.

        2. High food prices are the cause of most of the hunger on the world. Using food to inefficiently create oil products is causing food prices to go up. Removing US ethanol mandates and subsidies would do a lot to reduce hunger in my opinion.

      • Yeah, ’cause without modifying genes no food would ever grow. Give me a break. You can’t improve on the perfection of nature.

      • I can vouch for one who can’t consume any artificial sweetener, in addition to the pink slime in ground beef makes me nausea…. do you need any more documentation?

    • Margaret Jensen

      wish the USA and all countries would ban G.M.O.

  3. Dr.A.Jagadeesh

    Bold step by Peru. Law on prohibition Importation, production and use of GMO foods in the country has to be adopted by other countries as well.
    Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
    E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh @ gmail. com

  4. MonSatan

  5. Currawong Warble

    I never believed it possible that a whole country would stand up against Monsato. This news must be the best news that Mother Nature ever had. Environmentalists and health practitioners everywhere must be dancing in the streets!

    Ah, now if only we can get other countries to follow Peru’s lead!

  6. cecilia sanchez

    Don’t let GMO seeds in Peru or in any part of South America. Don’t let Monsanto destroy the indigenous food crops. Don’t let them in Peru. Down with Monsanto. Kick them out of the South America. Monsanto lies.

  7. Kenny Cartwright

    Bravo, Peru!!! Now the rest of the world needs to stand up with you, Europe and Japan!!!

  8. Roy – are you so duped that YOU THINK the Creator of the universe is not able to bless Peru and any other country with the rain and the growth of all this diverse and whole some crops to feed ? its the system and its greed and control and the stinkin chicken headed geek so called scientists that screw it up ; if you want to get food to the poor get a real revival going in the country of your choice turn yourself humbly before God Almighty and get the people under His wings and believe with faith and move the mountains ! God bless Peru and may great grace come to all there crops as they bring there tithes into His House of Prayer ;many houses where the money changers are driven out and the new song praise abounds more and more BLESS PERU …..

  9. Carla Martin

    I am not a scientific study, but I know what is true for me. In the States I have to eat gluten free; both my kids have Celiacs. In Peru I can eat bread and pretty much any product with wheat. The only 2 things that bother me are wheat berries and pasta. I think Peru is on to something!

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