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Understanding the potential impact of transgenic cropsin traditional agriculture: maize farmers’ perspectives in Cuba, Guatemala and Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2006

Daniela Soleri ,
David A. Cleveland ,
Flavio Aragón C. ,
Mario R. Fuentes L. ,
Humberto Ríos L.  and
Stuart H. Sweeney
Daniela Soleri
Affiliation:
Environmental Studies Program and Geography Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2302 Girvetz Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
David A. Cleveland
Affiliation:
Environmental Studies Program and Geography Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2302 Girvetz Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
Flavio Aragón C.
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), Campo Experimental Valles Centrales, Melchor Ocampo No. 7, Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo, Etla, Oaxaca, México
Mario R. Fuentes L.
Affiliation:
Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología Agrícolas (ICTA), ICTA 231, 01064 Villa Nueva, Guatemala
Humberto Ríos L.
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Agrícolas (INCA), San José de Las Lajas, La Habana, Cuba, CP 32700, GP#1
Stuart H. Sweeney
Affiliation:
Geography Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, 3611 Ellison Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA

Abstract

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Genetically engineered transgenic crop varieties (TGVs) have spread rapidly in the last 10 years, increasingly to traditionally-based agricultural systems (TBAS) of the Third World both as seed and food. Proponents claim they are key to reducing hunger and negative environmental impacts of agriculture. Opponents claim they will have the opposite effect. The risk management process (RMP) is the primary way in which TGVs are regulated in the US (and many other industrial countries), and proponents claim that the findings of that process in the US and its regulatory consequences should be extended to TBAS. However, TBAS differ in important ways from industrial agriculture, so TGVs could have different effects in TBAS, and farmers there may evaluate risks and benefits differently. To evaluate some potential impacts of TGVs in TBAS we used the RMP as a framework for the case of Bt maize in Mesoamerica and Cuba. We interviewed 334 farmers in Cuba, Guatemala and Mexico about farming practices, evaluations of potential harm via hypothetical scenarios, and ranking of maize types. Results suggest high potential for transgene flow via seed, grain and pollen; differences in effects of this exposure in TBAS compared with industrial agriculture; farmers see some potential consequences as harmful. Perceptions of harm differ among farmers in ways determined by their farming systems, and are different from those commonly assumed in industrial systems. An RMP including participation of farmers and characteristics of TBAS critical for their functioning is necessary to ensure that investments in agricultural technologies will improve, not compromise these agricultural systems.

Keywords

transgenicmaizegenetic engineeringrisk managementfarmerstraditional agricultureseed systemgene flowthird worldMexicoCubaGuatemalaMesoamericaCaribbean
Type
Research Article
Information
Environmental Biosafety Research , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , July 2005 , pp. 141 - 166
Copyright
© ISBR, EDP Sciences, 2006

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