BRAZIL: Activists Outraged over Gov’t Approval of Sales of GM Soy

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 27 2003 (IPS) - A decision by the Brazilian government to permit sales of the genetically modified (GM) soy harvested this year in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, which has been grown in violation of a court ban, drew howls of outrage Thursday from local consumer defence organisations and environmentalists.

The ”provisional measure” – a presidential decree that takes immediate, but only temporary, effect – was adopted on the recommendation of a group of cabinet ministers, and will authorise domestic sales as well as exports of GM soy until Jan. 31, 2004. After that date, the ban will go back into effect, and all GM soy crops will be burnt.

”This is very serious,” because the government ”rode roughshod over a court decision,” violating the constitution, which guarantees the independence and balance of the three branches of the state, Marilena Lazzarini, executive coordinator of Brazil’s Consumers Defence Institute (IDEC), told IPS.

The decision, which was published Thursday, also violates Brazil’s Consumer Defence Code, while tolerating the illegal planting of transgenic soy over the next year, she complained.

IDEC is studying ways to challenge the government measure in court, and will urge President Luiz Inacio ”Lula” da Silva to ”pay attention to consumers” by ensuring strict monitoring, as well as clear labelling of products so consumers know whether they are purchasing food containing GM soy, said Lazzarini.

The government decision took environmentalists and consumer defence activists by surprise, as they were only expecting the authorisation of exports of GM soy.

Commercial planting of transgenic products was banned by a June 2000 court ruling, which was appealed. After several delays, the appeals court is about to hand down a verdict.

But despite the ban, an estimated 70 to 80 percent of the soy currently growing in Rio Grande do Sul – out of a total projected harvest of 8.6 million tons – comes from genetically engineered seeds (Roundup Ready Soy) produced by the U.S.-based Monsanto corporation.

That is due to the contraband of seeds over the extensive border between Argentina, one of the world’s leaders in transgenic crops, and the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Underlying the problem was the failure to enforce the ban on the part of the previous Brazilian government, presided over by Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2003), which permitted such irregularities, said Lazzarini.

Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Soy was widely planted in Rio Grande do Sul despite stiff measures – such as a local ban on transgenic crops – adopted by the state’s previous administration (1999-2002) to prevent GM soy from being introduced there.

A year ago, the then-president of the Rio Grande do Sul Compania do Abastecimento, Silvio Porto, told IPS that the aim was to make Brazil ”a transgenic-free territory,” based on the example set by that state.

But it was the southern state of Parana, another major soy producer that also shares a border with Argentina, as well as Paraguay, that was successful in curbing the planting of smuggled seeds, by destroying transgenic crops and offering incentives to farmers who planted conventional, or non-GM, soy.

There is no information on illegal attempts to plant transgenic soy further north. Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Soy was developed for temperate climates, and is not adapted to the high temperatures of central and northern Brazil.

The decision adopted by Brazil’s new leftist government that took office in January extends the situation created by the ”omissions” of the Cardoso administration, and ”sets a dangerous precedent,” because farmers who have committed other ”irregularities” could demand similar tolerance, argued Lazzarini.

It also ”penalises honest farmers” who did not plant GM crops, because their production will also fall under suspicion, and they will have to obtain certificates demonstrating that their soy is conventional, she added.

Brazil is expected to produce 49 million tons of soy this year, which in output terms puts it second only to the United States, where GM crops are legal, as they are in Argentina, the world’s third-biggest soy producer.

Lula’s cabinet is divided over the issue of GM crops, as was Cardoso’s. Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues defends transgenic crops, arguing – as do large producers – that they cut production costs.

The Agriculture Ministry’s secretary of production and marketing, Linneu Lima, says GM crops allow production costs to be cut 40 percent, and maintains that legalising them would enable Brazil to double its total output of grains in five years, to 200 million tons a year.

But Environment Minister Marina Silva is opposed to GM crops based on the argument put forth by environmentalists: that not enough research has been done on possible damages to human health and the environment, especially in a country like Brazil, which boasts enormous biodiversity.

Lula set up a commission to hammer out a unified government position on GM crops, which includes representatives of nine ministries, including the economy portfolios. But it will not be an easy task.

IDEC, the National Forum of Civil Entities for Consumer Defence – which groups 20 civil society organisations – and the environmental movement remain staunchly opposed to the commercial growing of any GM crops.