A group of Mexican bee-keepers have won their fight against bio-tech giant Monsanto.
The company’s plans to plant over 625,000 acres of genetically modified soy-beans were thwarted by a Judge convinced by the arguments of thousands of Mayan farmers and bee-keepers backed up by the likes of Greenpeace and various ecological bodies.
The decision, made on the basis that Monsanto modify their crops to be resistant to glyphosate, an active ingredient in many pesticides found to be potentially harmful to humans as well as crops and wildlife, means that the agricultural giant is no longer able to go ahead with its multi-million dollar plans.
With over 25,000 Mayan families being involved in the honey industry, the court judged that co-existence between bee colonies and GM crops was not possible and with Mexico relying heavily on the exportation of honey products, (in 2011 the EU imported £32 million worth of Mexican honey) and the EU and other parts of the world having strict no GMO rules the decision to produce genetically modified crops on such a mass scale could have devastating effects on the economies of countries who choose to do so.
Source: Global Research