I found out about the sad case of Argentine farmworker Fabian Tomasi last fall and I promised myself that I would turn it into a blog post. After speeches to local kids he would ask them to not forget him. So let’s do that.
Back story
Argentina is pushing heavily into GMO soy production and Monsanto (now Bayer) moved into Fabian’s home region. I never met the dude but I imagine it was a decent-paying gig working for Monsanto. He never had the cash to attend the annual Festival so I’m sure he appreciated his farm job. Fabian was mainly occupied with flying over soy fields in a crop duster plane, spraying chemicals.
And he would routinely get completely soaked in the chemicals. That can’t be good. Anywhere!
Now, I don’t want to tell Argentina how to develop its country. But, as a worker myself with two kids to feed, I am appalled with the obvious lack of information and protection measures. How farmworkers are allowed to get completely drenched in agrochemicals is beyond me.
Wheels come off
Everything went well until Fabian hit his early 50s. He
contracted severe toxic polyneuropathy. Since I’m not a doctor, I had to Google the definition:
a general degeneration of peripheral nerves that spreads toward the center of the body. But who needs definitions. Just one picture will suffice.
Once Fabian fell ill he became an outspoken critic of the agrochemical business and how its poisons were affecting farmworkers. Many in his region were unhappy with him, even as the cases of disease, deformities and miscarriages shot straight up. You will never convince me that it’s a coincidence.
One excellent book to read is Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science by Carey Gillam.
My regret
Fabian knew what farming life was like before Monsanto arrived in his home region. I just wish he could have read Gabe Brown’s “Dirt to soil” book because Brown clearly shows you CAN make great profits in farming without the use of agrochemicals. Just note that Brown’s operation isn’t called organic; he regenerated his soils with no-till, cover crop methods. It’s a fascinating read. Fabian would have loved it.
September 7, 2018
Fabian Tomasi died on September 7, 2018. He was one of the few brave souls to point out how dirty it was to expose farmworkers to dangerous agrochemicals and not warn them of the dangers and provide them with protective gear. Allowing any worker, anywhere, to get completely drenched in poisons is nasty business. It makes me feel ill.
Afraid to die
Below is an article written by Fabian Tomasi and published in March 2018 in La Garganta Poderosa. The translation comes from newsclick.com.
“I’M AFRAID TO DIE”
By Fabián Tomasi,
Contaminated by pesticides.
From a very young age, and for many years, I worked in the countryside, flying small planes, in direct contact with pesticides. I am from Basavilbaso, Entre Ríos, where the people learned how to get over their annoyance with the carnival floats. But unfortunately, behind the colored lights and underneath the majestic stages, today, all I can see is the face of Antonella González, a young girl who died of leukemia at the Garrahan Hospital four months ago. She was born in Gualeguaychú, just 9 years ago, and she died, a victim of pesticides. The doctors knew it, we all knew it; just as we also know that 55% of those hospitalized in Garrahan for cancer are from our province…
The most fumigated of the country,
one of the most poisoned in the world.
I never participated in any parties. Not before, because I never had enough money, and especially not now, because some time ago, they diagnosed me with severe toxic polyneuropathy, with 80% gravity. It affects my entire nervous system and keeps me imprisoned in my house. The first symptom was pain in my fingers, made worse by the fact that I was diabetic and insulin-dependent. Then, the poison affected my lung capacity, my elbows were hurt and white liquid came out of my knees. Now my body is frail, full of scabs, almost without mobility and at night, it is hard for me to sleep, because of the fear that I won’t wake up.
I’m afraid to die
I want to live.
Maybe, this fear can serve as a shield, a type of antibody, like humor. Or how so many people help so that I can be writing, instead of running away to cry, because the sickness has made me 50 kilos thinner and I have seen many people die as a consequence of the fumigation, but no one wants to talk. My brother Roberto, was another victim of the acid rain that their small planes spread. The liver cancer was unforgiving. I will never forget his agony. I will never forget listening to him scream all night from the pain. My father died because of this, with this agony in his mind, silently swallowing the impotence of seeing me like this. Drowned, in anger and fear.
I do not want to swallow my words.
I want to scream.
Many coastal provinces have been destroyed by glyphosate and other chemicals, as if they willingly forgot that we human beings have 70% genetic similarity with plants. How did they expect their poison to tell us apart? They don’t. This is why when they fumigate, only 20% remains in the vegetables and the rest is in the air that we breathe. Do you understand? Not everything is glitter and fun in places like San Salvador (a city in Entre Ríos), the “cancer town”, where half the deaths are due to the same cause. There, the carnival never arrives…And yes, I received many threats for raising awareness about what they make us eat, breathe and drink on a daily basis. It is not enough to say “Get out Monsanto,” because the chains of evil today extend to the rest of the multi-million dollar companies and they are tangled up in silence. Today, there are no sicknesses without poison and there is no poison without this criminal collusion between multinational companies, the health industry, the governments and the justice system. Today, more than ever, we need them to stop and we must fight for this, even in the worst scenarios because our enemy has become too strong…
They are not business people,
they are agents of death.
Rest In Peace.
