Brazil court holds up RR Soya planting

Geneva, June 23 -- A federal judge in Brazil has issued an order holding up the planting and commercialisation of Monsanto corporations "Roundup Ready" transgenic soya, according to a press release from Greenpeace-Brazil received here.

The 6th Federal Court of Brazil accepted a petition presented by Greenpeace and a consumers right defence NGO, and decided on Monday to require a full environmental impact assessment prior to the planting and commercialisation of the Roundup Ready transgenic soya by Monsanto.

The decision will in practice impede the expected release of the transgenic crops in the environment for the next growing season beginning September/October, says the press release.

According to the decision, Monstanto is prohibited from commercialising the GE seeds until the government has regulated and defined the rules of biosafety and labelling of GMOs. The order also suspends the planting, on a commercial scale, of the transgenic soya until clarification of "the technical doubts presented by respected researchers regarding possible faults of the CTN-Bio (National Technical Commission on Biosafety) in reference to the request for a deregulamentation study for the RR soya".

The Brazilian Ministers of Agriculture, Science and Technology, Environment and Health have also been asked not to give any new authorization for commercialisation of GE crops to Monsanto before the completion of the judicial determinations. Authorizations also granted have been suspended.

Karen Suassuana from Greenpeace Brazil has said that the decision is "a huge victory for those who are concerned with the impacts of transgenics in the environment and public health... This opens up a world-wide precedent for the necessity of an environmental impact assessment of GE crops."

The Monstanto corporation could move the court to review its decision by presenting new arguments, but "it is almost impossible to change the judge's mind," set out clearly in the decision, says Suassuna. Any event, Monsanto will not have the time to change the decision in time to get RR soya printed for the new growing season, she says. (SUNS4463/TWN)

The above article first appeared in the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS).

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