Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Transgenics on the Table

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 27 2006 (IPS) - The international small farmers' group Vía Campesina has pledged to stage a broad protests against genetically modified crops at the world conference on agrarian reform to be held Mar. 7-10 in Porto Alegre, and another on biosecurity, Mar. 13-17 in Curitiba. In addition to the environmental risks of transgenic crops, also at stake is the right of farmers to produce their own seeds, as genetically modified seeds are usually the monopoly of a handful of transnational corporations, Joao Pedro Stedile, coordinator of the Landless Workers' Movement (MST), one of the Brazilian Vía Campesina organizations, told Tierramérica.

The peasant farmers' movement criticizes the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), organizer of the agrarian conference, for considering transgenic products a key factor in agricultural development.