The Great Crisis Of Puerto Rico

 

Puerto Rico is suffering from a $72bn debt crisis. The US territory must import more than 85 percent of its food, and it has yet to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017.At the same time, agrochemical companies like Monsanto (now owned by German pharmaceutical giant Bayer) have received massive tax breaks to test and grow GMO seeds on the island, including soybean and cotton seeds that the company sends to farmers around the world.

The presence of Monsanto, and the territory’s deepening economic crisis, has prompted some locals to resist the company’s presence on the island. Meanwhile, those living near Monsanto’s operations allege the chemicals the company sprays, both on its fields and inside its facilities, are making them sick. Monsanto maintains the chemicals it uses are safe.

Monsanto is no stranger to controversy. The company’s activities are well-documented, including in India, as well as in the United States, where 13,000 plaintiffs have alleged the company’s trademark weedkiller, Round UP and its active ingredient glyphosate causes cancer, But the seed giant’s presence in Puerto Rico remains relatively unknown.

In Juana Diaz, Iris Pellot, a former agronomist, said her time working with chemicals inside Monsanto’s facilities got her extremely sick. She developed rashes, inflammation and respiratory problems – all while she was pregnant with her third child. Her symptoms got so bad that she went into anaphylactic shock three times and eventually had to stop working, despite needing to provide for her children. Her doctor told her she might die.

To this day, despite being represented by a lawyer, Iris has still not been able to find out the specific chemicals she was handling at the time, Several agrochemical companies operate in the southern municipality of Juana Díaz, which contains some of Puerto Rico’s most fertile land In the barrio of Arus, directly across from Monsanto’s fields, we met several people who claim the chemicals sprayed there have caused itchy eyes, difficulty breathing and cancer in the community.

 

Monsanto told  it maintains full compliance with all regulations and insists that the chemicals being sprayed near Arus and elsewhere on the island are safe. What is known is that Puerto Rico is important to Monsanto’s GMO operation. All of its soybean and cotton seeds originate on the US territoryLocals say that’s partly because companies like Monsanto have received the perfect set up here. As a seed corporation, it gets the same benefits as an individual farmer, including a 90 percent tax exemption, access to free water, and in Monsanto’s case, close to three million dollars in wage subsidies. And Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto in 2018 made it the largest agrochemical company in the world.