Sofia Gatica
Sofia Gatica (born 1967 ) is an Argentine environmental activist. In 2012 she was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize. The jury praised her commitment to the use of toxic pesticides in Argentina's agriculture. Sofia Gatica turned mainly against sprays, which the active ingredients glyphosate and endosulfan were buried.
Commitment to Herbizidsprühungen
Trigger for the commitment Gaticas was the end of the 90s, when her daughter died three days after giving birth to a Nierenversargen. Gatica could not come to terms with the death of her daughter. She did research into the causes of the disease and came in conversation with neighbors on worrying and unexplained health problems. Gatica led them back to spraying with the herbicides Roundup and endosulfan in the immediate vicinity of residential areas. The town Gaticas is surrounded by genetically modified soy plantations that were sprayed regularly with appropriate herbicides.
Sofia Gatica founded as a consequence the group the Mothers of Ituzaingó who made it his goal to stop the reckless use of agrochemicals. They conducted a door-to- door survey, the first epidemiological survey in the region to impact the Pestizidsprühungen on human health, through. This revealed that cancers were by a factor of 41 higher than the national average, as is the frequency of neurological diseases, respiratory diseases, birth defects and infant mortality were striking.
Based on these findings to the Mothers of Ituzaingó sat with Argentine environmental organizations in connection and initiated a stop spraying campaign. Press conferences and demonstrations were organized on the topic, brochures, which served to educate the population about the dangers of pesticides, have been published. Gatica made contact to scientific institutions and asked for studies that based their observations.
The Group's activities around Gatica were hampered by the fact that no direct way Rechenschaften of Monsanto, DuPont and other global demand agrochemical corporations existed. Also, pressure was exerted on the group by police officials and local businessmen verorteter. Gatica was threatened and asked to drop their commitment in 2007 under arms using an invaded their house person.
Results
In 2008, the president of Argentina, the Ministry of Health commissioned a study on the effects of pesticide use to perform in Itzuingó. The Department of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires was entrusted with a corresponding study. The results of this confirmed the theses of the Mothers of Ituzaingó concerning the relationship Herbizidsprühungen and health of the population. Gatica succeeded in consequence, to obtain a municipal ordinance, prohibited the sprays in a radius of less than 2500 meters in distance from a dwelling. In 2010, the Supreme Court established a burden of proof, not the residents have to prove the harmfulness of sprays after, but is the responsibility of the security proof of the government and Sojabohnenanbauern.
Other activities
In September 2012, a meeting between the Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of Agriculture, Ulrike Höfken and Sofia Gatica took place. It was jointly advocated the pesticide glyphosate to check new world and demand a scientific reassessment of the substance by independent researchers.
In 2013, Gatica committed in the province of Córdoba zentralargentinischen against the construction of a large treatment plant the corn seed company Monsanto. So she organized in September 2013 a blockade of the access road to the proposed seed factory, after which the construction was stopped. Gatica reported in the wake of violent attacks against their person, of which Monsanto distanced himself in an official statement. On February 10, 2014 was achieved by this action lasting over five months that the environmental impact study submitted by Monsanto for the new factory by the technical committee of the environment ministry was not approved.