Argentines link health problems to agrochemicals

Argentines link health problems to agrochemicals

By MICHAEL WARREN and NATACHA PISARENKO, Associated Press | October 20, 2013 | Updated: October 20, 2013 12:19pm

BASAVILBASO, Argentina (AP) — Argentine farmworker Fabian Tomasi wasn't trained to use protective gear as he pumped pesticides into crop dusters. Now at 47, he's a living skeleton.

Schoolteacher Andrea Druetta lives in a town where it's illegal to spray agrochemicals within 500 meters (550 yards) of homes, and yet soy is planted just 30 meters (33 yards) from her back door. Recently, her boys were showered in chemicals while swimming in their backyard pool.

Sofia Gatica's search for answers after losing her newborn to kidney failure led to Argentina's first criminal convictions for illegal spraying last year. But 80 percent of her neighbors' children surveyed carry pesticides in their blood.

American biotechnology has turned Argentina into the world's third-largest soy producer, but the chemicals powering the boom aren't confined to soy and cotton and corn fields. The Associated Press documented dozens of cases where these poisons are used in ways specifically banned by existing law.

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http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Argentines-link-health-problems-to-agrochemicals-4911065.php