AGRICULTURE-BRAZIL: Genetically Modified Law Advances

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 5 2004 (IPS) - Parties on either side of the transgenics issue said they were satisfied with the legislative bill on biosafety that the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved early Thursday, after months of negotiations. But some disappointment lingers as the bill heads to the Senate.

Environment Minister Marina Silva said she was content with the text of the bill, having achieved last-minute changes that preserve her portfolio’s authority to require environmental impact studies for activities involving genetically modified organisms before they can be used commercially.

The draft bill has undergone several turnarounds since it was drawn up by an inter-ministerial commission and presented to Congress last October, providing for rules that attend to the demands of environmentalists, the peasant farmer movement and consumer rights activists.

But it was subject to modifications in the special committee of lawmakers entrusted with preparing the bill for the vote by the Chamber of Deputies.

The changes to the bill tended to benefit those who want greater liberalisation in regards to genetically modified (GM) products, such as soya farmers or scientists who use the technique of transferring genetic information from one species to another to produce new traits in plants or animals – which can be destined for agricultural or medical ends.

The pressure from Minister Silva and environmental groups prompted another turnaround just hours before the deputies cast their votes.

"At the last minute they were able to introduce Marina Silva’s genes in the bill," joked farm agricultural leader Carlos Sperotto in an IPS interview.

Sperotto is president of the Agriculture Federation of Rio Grande do Sul, the southern Brazilian state that holds the lead in transgenic soya production, mostly from seed smuggled in from Argentina.

But he considers the result "positive", because it moves Brazil beyond the legal ambiguity that has predominated in regards to genetically modified products since 1997, a situation in which rules emerged as a result of court decisions in a seemingly endless judicial process.

"There was a victory and a defeat," said Sperotto. Agribusiness and farmers hope the Senate will revise some points in the bill, such as subjecting authorisation to commercial cultivation of GM crops to a decision by a National Biosecurity Council made up of 15 ministers, he said.

The argue that it should be enough to obtain the green light from the National Biosecurity Technical Commission (CTNBio), a technical body linked to the Ministry of Science and Technology, entrusted with evaluating the potential threats of genetically modified organisms.

The bill, as it was approved by the Chamber of Deputies, requires that GM products intended for sale be assessed by governmental agencies to monitor effects on human health and the environment.

The cultivation of transgenic soya, which drove the need for legislation, will have to undergo an environmental impact study.

That entire process "could suffer political interferences" and pressure from the environmental movement, as occurred in the Chamber vote, said Sperotto, who is also vice-president of the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock.

CTNBio at least gained some autonomy to authorise research involving transgenics, "an important advance," says Leila Oda, president of the National Biosecurity Association (ANBio), a group of experts on the issue.

Scientists demanded the inclusion of that provision in the bill. They want to differentiate research from commercial production of GM products as a means to overcome the obstacles that they face in their investigations. Currently they have to meet the requirements of several ministries and agencies before they can move forward on new projects.

"But we are worried about one detail, the requirement for an absolute majority among the 27 members of CTNBio," which opens the way for obstruction by those who oppose a decision, Oda told IPS. Before, a simple majority of the members present was enough.

Among the most disappointed in the approved bill was Marilena Lazzarini, head of the Brazilian Consumer Defence Institute, whose legal actions made soya cultivation illegal – in fact, if not in deed – in southern Brazil.

"This is a setback in relation to the previous law on biosecurity (1995), which was more coherent," because it made clear the authorisations required from health and environment agencies in order to carry out activities with transgenics, she told IPS.

The inter-ministerial Council acting as the maximum authority on these issues means that political reasons could be imposed on a decision that should be technical, "and that’s serious," said Lazzarini.

The government "acted like Pilate," she said. It presented a bill that satisfied the minister of environment but then "washed its hands," leaving the deputies to modify the text, attending to the interests of big farmers and agribusiness.

The fate of the bill is now in the hands of the Brazilian Senate, whose leaders say they expect a vote next week. But because there are many details of the bill that remain confusing and even contradictory, there is likely to be a whole new series of intense debates.