An attempt to plant transgenic cotton for research purposes in Costa
Rica is being challenged in court. According to a news report recently
filed by Carlos Arrieta Perez of online news daily El Pais,
a legislator from Frente Amplio (Broad Front) and a few non-profit
groups dedicated to environmental protection claim that the transgenic
cotton seeds contain traces of Agent Orange.
Legislator Edgardo Araya Sibaja filed a complaint before the
Constitutional Chamber, known as Sala Cuarta, to stop transgenic cotton
from being tested in Costa Rica. Most municipalities in our country have
local ordinances that prevent the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), but a handful of cantons that do not have such prohibitions have agricultural research farms where hybrids and transgenic crops can be tested.
The complaint filed before Sala Cuarta argues that the traces of
Agent Orange found in the GMO cotton seeds violate the Cartagena
Protocol on Biosafety. Legislator Araya believes that the cotton
pollination process is impossible to contain, which means that insects
could carry the harmful traces to native plant species nearby.
According to the United States Veterans Administration, Agent Orange
refers to a blend of tactical herbicides the U.S. military sprayed in
the jungles of Vietnam and around the Korean demilitarized zone to
remove trees and dense tropical foliage that provided enemy cover.
Herbicides were also used by the U.S. military to defoliate military
facilities in the U.S. and in other countries as far back as the 1950s.
The U.S. Department of Defense developed these tactical herbicides
specifically to be used in “combat operations.” The dioxin TCDD was an
unwanted byproduct of herbicide production. Dioxins are pollutants that
are released into the environment by burning waste, diesel exhaust,
chemical manufacturing, and other processes. TCDD is the most toxic of
the dioxins, and is classified as a human carcinogen by the
Environmental Protection Agency.
Legislator Araya explains that GMO cotton
contamination has already taken place in Costa Rica, specifically in
2005 and at the same research stations in Guanacaste where a batch is
intended to be cultivated this time.
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