Inequalities and risk: Public debates about GMOs in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico

This study involves the public discourse on genetically modified crops (GMOs) in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. The choice of Latin American countries aims at shedding light on the relationships between social inequalities, rights claiming and risk debates based on empirical evidence.

I will present three main findings of a frame analysis from news media articles from 2009-2010. 1) The controversies about biodiversity (Mexico), coexistence (Brazil) and pesticide use (Argentina) refer to risks related to the cultivation of GMOs, not its consumption; thus, concepts such as "Frankenfoods" are limited to consumer rights and overlook injustice claims related to biodiversity, small-scale farming, workers' health and pesticide contamination. 2) The conflicts about the distribution of economic benefits and costs among transnational and national actors (ex. debates on intellectual property rights in Argentina and Brazil) become even more pressing in a context of strong international market competition that challenges the relative autonomy of governments vis-a-vis global corporations. 3) Synchronically comparing these countries brought together three time orientations regarding agrobiotechnology: in Argentina, interpretations about the consequences of a long-term use of GM seeds resistant to glyphosate; in Brazil, the focus on present decisions regarding coexistence; in Mexico, the threat to biodiversity, framed mostly in a future-oriented fashion. Such results of a synchronous comparative analysis will be interpreted taking into account the history of contention in each country but also the role of contingent events.

On a theoretical level, I argue that assuming that the fight against poverty and inequality excludes health and environmental issues from the normative horizon of "developing" countries actually obfuscates what is at stake in conflicts that are commonly interpreted as risk issues. My claim is that distributive questions are at the heart of the conflict and inequality is reflected in all subtopics in the GMOs debate, including health and environmental risks.