Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho

Figure 2. Free GMO regions
in Spain. From Amigos de la
Tierra, http://www.tierra.org/
spip/spip.php?article433
We can also speak from a growing ecological sensibility in Murcia
and in other regions of Spain that, nevertheless, is not predominant. In
June 2010 bio farmers used 60.742 ha, one of the best averages in Spain,
especially if we compare it to bigger regions like Catalonia (71.734 ha)
or Valencia (38.754 ha), where irrigated lands are also an important
part of the fields [2] .
On the other hand, in Murcia there is a low success of European
initiatives like GMO free regions. Only the little village of Bullas (with
a famous wine production) has adhered to the initiative, widely supported
in other regions of Spain (Fig 2).
We can say that even if Murcia is a de facto free GMO region, there
is not a social pressure in order to make the Autonomy adhere to some
de iure compromise.
We will try to explain this estrange situation as a fact related to the
little discussion about GMO food topic in the public sphere of Murcia.
Newspapers keep little traces of the debate, small with regards to the
huge system in which the social formation of public opinion takes
place, but perhaps enough to have some evidences about the quality
of the public debate about GMO cultures in the region.
In our opinion, we can speak about an anomalous situation if we
consider that Murcia’s fields have already been cultivated with GMO
181
FEDERALISM, DIRECT
DEMOCRACY AND THE
QUALITY OF PUBLIC
DELIBERATION: THE
GMO DEBATE
José Luis Egío
2
http://www.interempresas.net/Agricola/Articulos/41118-Espana-lider-en-cultivo-deproductos-bio-en-la-UE-exporta-el-80-por-ciento-de-la.html