Sofia Gatica

Sofía Gatica (1976) is an Argentine environmentalist, whose infant daughter Sofia, died just three days after her birth of kidney failure, which is likely caused by pesticide exposure.[1] She was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2012, for her fight against use of toxic pesticides used in agriculture in Argentina, in particular agents containing glyphosate and endosulfan.[2] In November 2013 she was threatened with death at gunpoint and beaten by unidentified men.[3][4]

Sofía Gatica
Born
Sofía Gatica

1967
Argentina
NationalityArgentine
Occupationenvironmentalist
AwardsGoldman Environmental Prize

further activities

In September 2012, a meeting between the Rhineland-Palatinate Agriculture Minister, Ulrike Höfken and Gatica took place. It was jointly advocated that the pesticide glyphosate should be re-examined worldwide and that a scientific reassessment of the substance should be requested by independent researchers.[5]

In 2013 Gatica campaigned the in central Argentine province of Córdoba against the construction of a large corn seed processing plant for the Monsanto Group.[6] In September 2013, for example, they organized a blockade of the access road to the planned seed factory, whereupon construction work was stopped.[7] On February 10, 2014, this action, which lasted more than five months, resulted in the Environmental impact assessment submitted by Monsanto for the new factory not being approved by the technical committee of the Ministry of the Environment.[8] In August 2016, a Monsanto employee told the newspaper iProfessional that the company was withdrawing from this project. The reasons he cited were economic developments and the effects of long-term protests by residents. Gatica commented: "If the resistance stirs from below, it will bring down those above".[9]

References
  1. One Woman’s Fight Against Glyphosate
  2. "Sofia Gatica". Goldman Environmental Prize. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  3. "Sofía Gatica denunció que fue golpeada". La Voz. 23 November 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  4. “Monsanto nuevamente golpeó y amenazó a Sofía Gatica”
  5. "Sofia Gatica".
  6. "'No Pasaran!' After two years, Argentina's Monsanto blockade is fighting on".
  7. Mutmaßlicher Angriff auf Öko-Aktivistin, „Monsanto soll mich nicht schlagen“ in: taz.de vom 25. November 2013.
  8. Argentinien: Etappensieg gegen Monsanto-Maisfabrik auf weltagrarbericht.de, abgerufen am 20. März 2014.
  9. Weltagrarbericht vom 23. August 2016 zitiert nach CBA24n.


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