Brazil GM Regulators Looking to Approve More Crops
From: Gaia <[email protected]>
Sat, 11 Sep 2004

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The situation in Brazil is taking a turn for the worse.  After President Lula’s  2003 election pledge to keep Brazil GM-free, he caved in to pressure from the USA and farmers in the Southern states who had been illegally growing GM soya, and allowed GM soya to be sold domestically just for the year 2003-2004.

Now, those who want GM soya to be grown in 2004-05, are pushing for a Biosecurity Law to be passed quickly, which would allow GM planting to take place in October.  The proposed Biosecurity Law is weak, and grants little capacity to the environmental bodies with safety concerns about GM.

Furthermore, a federal court recently granted decision-making powers to the GM regulating body, the pro-GM National Technical Commission of Biosecurity (CTNBio), allowing them to overrule the 1999 decision of the environmental regulator Ibama, that environmental impact studies are necessary before commercial planting of a GM crop can be allowed.  The need for environmental impact studies are enshrined in the Brazilian constitution.

Immediately it was granted status, CTNBio declared it was considering clearance  for commercial planting of GM soya, corn, cotton and rice.  The crops may be given approval by December.

However Greenpeace and Idec, a consumer watchdog, are planning to appeal the decision to allow CTNBio to waive the requirement for environmental assessments.  After all, if there is no harm in GMOs, why fear the assessments?

Best wishes,

Teresa

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1. Brazil Court Eases Path for GMO Corn, Cotton, Rice
  Article from Reuters.  Date: 3 September 2004
  Reese Ewing
  http://yahoo.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=quotesCompanyNews&storyID=6148723
2. Brazil Court Says CTNBio Can Regulate Use of GMOs
Article from Reuters.  Date: 1 July 2004
http://www.gene.ch/genet/2004/Jul/msg00014.html
3. Brazil: Rush in Congress for Biosecurity Law
Article from Brasil de Fato/ Brazzil Magazine.  Date: 6 September 2004
http://brazzil.com/mag/content/view/103/2/
4. Monsanto Says to Challenge Brazil Ban on GMO
Article from Reuters.  Date: 3 September 2004
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/26921/story.htm (and below)

Monsanto Says to Challenge Brazil Ban on GMO

Article from Reuters.  Date: 3 September 2004
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/26921/story.htm

BRASILIA, Brazil - Monsanto Co. (MON.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday it intends to appeal a legal ban in Brazil on selling its genetically modified Roundup Ready soybeans after a court decision cleared the way for an appeal.

A federal court published on Wednesday its decision, made late in June, reinstating the power of Brazil's National Technical Committee on Biosafety (CTNBio) to regulate genetically modified products.

The publication of the decision ends a legal wrangle that started in 1998 when CTNBio waived a five-year environmental impact study and cleared Roundup Ready soy for commercial use. Shortly after that, in 1999, environmental group Greenpeace won a court injunction against the release of Roundup Ready soy on the grounds that CTNBio had acted beyond its powers.

Monsanto said in a statement the federal court's ruling that CTNBio can regulate genetically modified products should mean its original 1998 decision holds. But the court's injunction on Roundup Ready soy remains in place.

"Monsanto intends to launch a legal appeal to correct the contradiction of the maintenance of the injunction that restricts Roundup Ready soy," the company said in a statement in Brazil.

Brazil, the world's No. 2 soy producer after the United States, is the last major agricultural exporter to ban GMO food crops.

While Wednesday's decision helps Monsanto, the tangle of legal decisions regarding genetically modified foods in Brazil could still get more complicated if Greenpeace appeals the decision.

Because of the legal wrangles, the government last year granted amnesty to planters of illegal GMO soybeans for the current crop. It has put together a biosafety bill which would allow GMO planting of the next harvest as well but that is stuck in Congress.

The government has said it could publish a provisional decree to allow planting and sale of genetically modified soybeans in 2004/05 (October/September) if Congress does not approve the law in time.

Despite the attempts by Greenpeace and a consumer group to control Roundup Ready soybeans, it has spread to cover an estimated 30 percent of the national crop.

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