The Costa Rica News (TCRN) – The Indian activist, Vandana Shiva, will visit Costa Rica on January 21 to participate in a day of conferences against GM crops as part of a local initiative on fighting this type of agriculture.
The Costa Rican Federation for Environmental Conservation (Fecon) today said the activist will offer a press conference and she will perform a series of lectures.
According to Fecon, Shiva’s visit aims to unite the Costa Rican women fighting GMO crops and pesticide as this is a very important year to combat GMO’s.
Shiva, a physicist by profession, is an environmental activist and leader of the movement “ecofeminism”, is also a part of the organization in favor of sustainable agriculture “Navdanya Trust” which has mobilized more than 10 million farmers in India to defend their right on seed saving.
Shiva rose to fame by “tree hugging” in the 1970s when preventing deforestation, along with hundreds of other women in the movement “Chipko” which means hug in Hindi, to continue the indiscriminate felling of forests in the country.
The issue of GM crops took force in Costa Rica on January 21 last year when the National Biosafety Commission approved the company D & PL Seeds Ltda, a subsidiary of Monsanto International, for planting two hectares of GM maize for research purposes in Abangares area in the northwestern province of Guanacaste.
Last October, opposition MPs and environmental groups submitted to Congress a bill to establish a moratorium on engineered crops because of their alleged harmful effects on human health and the environment.
A total of 67 of the 81 municipalities are there in Costa Rica have declared themselves GM-free zones in recent years.
Data from the National Biosafety Commission indicated that in Costa Rica there were small plantings of GM maize under two hectares in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 1999 and 2000.
The Costa Rica News (TCRN)
San Jose Costa Rica