Dr. Andrés Carrasco, in his lab
Dr. Andrés Carrasco, the scientist who proved the devastating effects that the chemical glyphosate has on humans, died on Saturday at the age of 67. He has been suffering from cancer.
A molecular biologist at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Carrasco was also the former president of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, CONICET. Carrasco was a widely-published expert in embryonic development, and in 2010 published a study that challenged regulators to re-examine the herbicide glyphosate. Sold by Monsanto as Roundup, it is widely used in industrial agriculture around the world, but has been at the heart of numerous legal challenges due to its devastating side effects, and is banned in many countries.
His study put him in the firing line of both large agri-business in Argentina, and the government, whose Strategic Agri-Food Plan (PEA) promotes the use of GM soy and, as a result, herbicides using chemicals such as glyphosate. As an academic in receipt of state funds for his research, Carrasco found his professional life to be jeopardised as a result of his work.
However, social movements, such as the Madres de Ituzaingo, an organisation from Córdoba made up of mothers of those poisoned by crop spraying, found in him their hero. As a result, Carrasco became a reference for the anti-GM movement, travelling widely to share his findings.
In a recent interview with MU, he said: “I haven’t discovered anything new. I am just saying the same as the families who have been sprayed by the chemical, it’s just that I have proven it in a laboratory.”
Read journalist Darío Aranda‘s article on Carrasco, published in MU (in Spanish) on Saturday here.
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