In another blow to multinational agribusiness companies such as Monsanto, Bayer, and Dow, Peru last week became the latest in a series of countries to ban GMO foods. Last week, a law took effect which bans the import, production, and use of genetically modified foods anywhere in Peru for the next ten years.
Peru via Shutterstock
Peru isn’t the only country to ban GMO foods or place restrictions on their use. Earlier in 2012, Russia suspended imports of Monsanto’s GMO corn after a French study linked the corn to cancer; France also has a temporary ban on the corn. Ireland has banned the growing of GMO crops since 2009. Japan and Egypt ban the cultivation of GMO crops. In 2010, Switzerland extended a moratorium on genetically modified animals and plants, banning GMOs until 2013.
Meanwhile, the United States is going in the opposite direction.
As reported here previously, Americans now eat their own body weight, annually, in GMO foods – no doubt, to the pleasure of the large US agribusiness multinationals who have contributed about $300 million, since 2010 alone, to influence the US Congress to support the massive introduction of GMO foods into American society.
Don Lieber's writing and research has been published by the United Nations, The Associated Press, The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, E-The Environmental Magazine and others. He contributes regularly to PlanetSave.com.
