The municipality of Alajuelita, on the south side of San José, has declared itself “transgenic” free, prohibiting the cultivation of potentially dangerous genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
69 cantons across Costa Rica have made a similar declaration, leaving only 12 not having done so.
Environmentalists had proposed to end 2013 with 70 municipalities free of transgenic crops. Environmental activists in Costa Rica often sit in the cantonal meetings while transgenic-free proposals are being considered; this is to ensure that no foul play takes place.
Similar projects are taking root across Latin America.
While I am generally against the cultivation of transgenics/GMOs, I think that testing would show that many of the papayas grown in Costa Rica have transgenic pedigrees. Almost all papayas grown in Hawaii for the past few decades are transgenic, product of modification to increase resistance to a fungus that almost destroyed the industry there. I have papaya plants grown from seed (planted before I was aware of transgenic papayas) that may have come from Hawaiian fruit. The Hawaiian papayas are considered the best ones here and have a pinkish color rather than the yellower local papayas. There are still a few growers in Hawaii producing non-transgenic papaya plants, but even their fruit may contain transgenic DNA due to cross-pollination.
Given the number of years that this GMO papaya has been around and the lack of evidence of adverse health or environmental effects from its use, I’m not very concerned about this particular one (but don’t get me started on Monsanto’s corn, soy, and other transgenics). I write about the papaya because it is naive to believe that any canton is completely free of GMOs – you may have some growing in your yard, too.