International+Solidarity+urging+President+Lugo+from+Paraguay+to+veto+the+Agrotoxics+Law

Hola, This morning Lasojamata and salvalaselva launched a call for **International Solidarity** **urging President Lugo from Paraguay** to **veto** the **Agrotoxics Law**, recently approved by the National Congress (the deadline for him to veto this law is next Tuesday) Here are the links: [|http://salvalaselva.org/ protestaktion.php?id=422] (Spanish) [|http://www.regenwald.org/ international/englisch/ protestaktion.php?id=423] (English)

For more info visit [|http://lasojamata.org] It would be greatly appreciated if you could add your voice by signing this petition with your name, or the name of your group or organization, forwarding this email/letter, or participate in any way that would give international visibility and show international concern that you are able! Take action now: [|http://www.regenwald.org/ international/englisch/ protestaktion.php?id=423] (English) No matter what the result of his decision is, it is crucial that we follow what’s happening and be ready to act in solidarity. But **if he doesn’t veto** the law, then your solidarity and the international community’s will be needed to support the mobilizations that will take place from the campesino movement! Take action here: [|http://www.regenwald.org/ international/englisch/ protestaktion.php?id=423] (English) ...and read the sample letter to president Lugo below.
 * If Lugo ** **vetoes** the law, large landowners and big producers whose interests are at stake will be ready to mobilize in demonstrations against the government.

Sincerely, S. Lorena Rodriguez A. S. E. Mr. President of the Republic of Paraguay Don Fernando Lugo Méndez Palacio de Gobierno Asunción, Paraguay Dear Mr. President, I am sending this letter to express my deep concern over the serious environmental situation experienced in Paraguay due to the expansion of large monocultures and the indiscriminate use of agrotoxics. GM soy monoculture is causing life and health risks to the most vulnerable sectors of the population, it is destroying subsistence farming and it is drying up and contaminating drinking water source, which are becoming more and more scarce in the world. This situation will only get worse with the recent approval of this law (Ley No. 3742/09) “Control of Phytosanitary products for Agricultural use,” that is why we urge you to veto this law, making use of your constitutional attributions provided in article 238 inc. 4, as President and representative of the Paraguayan people, due to the following reasons: This law acts against the most basic human rights: the right to life, to health and to live in a healthy environment. The Constitution guarantees the protection of these rights in the hands of the Paraguayan state. This law constitutes a large step backwards for environmental legislation, and it then becomes a proposal designed with the objective of allowing for even more agribusiness impunity. It contemplates the elimination or flexibilization of “current norms of safety barriers such as Windbreaks as a pesticide drift mitigation strategy”. It also annuls necessary warning before the fumigation takes place over areas destined to defend life, health and drinking water sources, as well as the environment in general with the objective of counting with greater areas for the cultivation and use of agrotoxics. In addition, it eliminates any possibility for the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and the Secretary of the Environment to participate of any discussions or decisions related to pesticides, thus providing the National Service of Vegetable and Seed Quality and Health (SENAVE for its acronym in Spanish: Servicio Nacional de Calidad y Sanidad Vegetal y de Semillas) with unconstitutional attributions which are under the responsibility of the respective Ministries. It also violates a number of international agreements ratified by Paraguay. Among them: the American Convention on Human Rights; the UN Convention on Children’s Rights; the American Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Rotterdam Convention regarding previous consent to regulate pesticide control when these enter the territory, the Basel Convention as the law fails in contemplating the integral procedure of obsolete pesticides, considered dangerous and highly toxic waste; and the Rio Declaration. It contravenes principles that are part of Agenda 21, among them the precautionary principle and the health and security imperatives. In this way I also request that you execute the 1937/09 decree in an urgent manner and counting with the support of all public institutions, which “establishes sanitary measures for the adequate use of pesticides in agricultural production.” This measure, originated in the Ministry of Health and that counts with the approval of the Secretary of the Environment, gathers various current norms linked to pesticide application and that, until now, were not being applied, and enacts punitive measures with the objective of providing greater protection to people’s life, health, and the environment. We urge the Paraguayan Government to reject the keeping of the same corporate interests represented by the agro export GM soy model and its agrotoxics package. We demand the rejection of the projects that threaten people’s life, health and the environment and that do not respect local peoples’ will. Finally, we encourage you to do all what you can in order to improve the environmental and health situation of the Paraguayan people. Sincerely [your name]

Send it: [|http://www.regenwald.org/ international/englisch/ protestaktion.php?id=423] (English) [|http://salvalaselva.org/ protestaktion.php?id=422] (Spanish)

-- S. Lorena Rodriguez skype: lorerodlez cell. 098.577.497 (+598.8577497)