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Brazil to publish GM test crop rules soon (Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2002 -- CropChoice news) --
- Peter Blackburn, Reuters News Service, Brazil:
Rio De Janeiro - Brazil's federal environmental institute IBAMA is due to
publish later this month rules for experimental planting of crops
genetically modified to resist pests, government researchers said.
It marks a further step in the government's long-running battle with
environmental groups to allow the production and commercial sale of GM
crops which farmers believe is necessary to compete with U.S., Argentine
soy and other food exporters.
Brazil, the world's second largest producer and exporter of soybeans after
the United States, is one of the last major agricultural exporters where
GM crops are banned. "The rules will allow field tests on GM corn, cotton,
sugar cane and other crops being planted in the next six months," Maria
Jose Sampaio, researcher at the agriculture ministry's research agency
Embrapa, told Reuters.
Planting of experimental GM crops to resist pests stopped in Brazil in
2000, pending the publishing of government regulations authorizing such
pilot projects. Speaking at a government symposium on food safety and
transgenic crops, Sampaio said that there were also projects to test GM
rice, bananas, potatoes, cocoa, coffee, wheat, citrus, eucalyptus, beans,
papaya, melon and mahogany.
The government's regulatory body on biotechnology (CTNBio) approved in
1998 the sale of Monsanto's GM soybeans, but local consumer and
environmental groups disputed its authority and obtained a court
injunction against the sales.
Long Wait For Legal Ruling. Two of the court's three judges are still
considering the case. The third judge in February recognized CTNBio's
authority to allow Monsanto GM sales. "We have no idea when the two judges
will give a ruling," Sampaio said.
However a ruling is considered unlikely until after October's presidential
elections and formation of a new government. GM soybeans are already
illegally grown on an estimated 25 percent of Brazil's soy area, several
government researchers said Monday at the symposium. The GM seeds are
smuggled across from neighboring Argentina where Monsanto seeds are
produced and widely planted.
Monsanto's Roundup Ready soybeans are genetically modified to resist the
company's potent glyphosate-based herbicide, which would kill a
conventional soy plant. "If the technology is there, the farmers will go
for it. You can't stop them," said Sampaio, noting that planting of the
new soybean crop starts in September.
The GM soybeans achieve an estimated 30 percent cost saving because less
applications of herbicide and pesticide are needed and higher yields can
be obtained, according to researchers and farmers in Brazil. "Brazilian
farmers want to produce more cheaply and be more competitive," added
Sampaio.
Non-governmental groups complained that they weren't invited to the
three-day symposium ending on Wednesday. "It's an attempt by the
government to convince public opinion that GM crops present no food safety
or environmental danger," Mariana Paoli, campaigner for Greenpeace Brazil,
told Reuters. | |
