from AGNET AUGUST 20, 2001 -- II
1. COURTS FORCE BRAZIL GOVT TO RETREAT ON GM SOY
2. PROPOSED GE REPORT DESPERATE AND MEANINGLESS
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1. COURTS FORCE BRAZIL GOVT TO RETREAT ON MONSANTO GMO SOY
August 20, 2001
Dow Jones
SAO PAULO - According to this story, Brazil's agriculture minister apparently overstepped his bounds when he said he'd let U.S. biotechnology giant Monsanto Co. (MON) sell genetically-modified seeds to the world's second-biggest soybean grower.
The unexplained attempt by Agriculture Minister Marcus Vinicius Pratini de Moraes to trump a three-year court battle sent Monsanto's shares rallying, but a subsequent legal filing has, the story says, cut short the company's celebration by forcing the dispute back into the courts. And the outlook for Monsanto getting GMO approval in Brazil looks increasingly bleak. Besides the legal battle that consumer and environmental groups are fighting here, reports that European researchers found unidentified genetic material in the soybeans provided local activists with further ammunition. The story says that an Agriculture Ministry spokesman declined to comment on Pratini's motives, saying only that "the minister always intended to wait for a judicial resolution before making a decision (on the approval of Monsanto soy)."
After being notified by the judge, Pratini reversed his position on Aug. 8 and said he would only register the herbicide-resistant soybeans when the issue is eventually resolved in the courts.
News of the reversal sent Monsanto's shares plummeting the next day on Wall Street, dropping 5.6% to $33.50.
Meanwhile, the obstacles facing Monsanto continue to mount. Earlier Friday, the story says that Brazil's biosafety commission moved on reports out of Europe and said it intends to request additional information from Monsanto about the make-up of Roundup Ready following the discovery of an unidentified DNA sequence in the product.
In a statement regarding the DNA sequence, Monsanto said that it stands by the safety of Roundup Ready soybeans because the DNA sequence mentioned in the scientific paper was already present in original crops subject to safety tests when the product was launched.
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2. PROPOSED GENETIC ENGINEERING REPORT DESPERATE AND MEANINGLESS
August 20, 2001
From a press release
MONTREAL - Greenpeace Canada today denounced draft standards for voluntary labelling of genetically engineered (GE) food as desperate and meaningless. The standards were proposed in a federal government report to be released shortly. Greenpeace said voluntary labelling of GE food is another in a series of attempts to impose GE food on Canadians without their knowledge or consent. The committee is part of the Canadian General Standards Board, under the department of Public Works.
"Canadians have the right to know what they're eating. Yet once again, the federal government is siding with the food biotech industry, allowing corporations to dictate the terms through which consumers can know what's in their food," said Dr. Eric Darier, Greenpeace's genetic engineering campaigner.
"The draft is so weak it's meaningless," said Darier. "It will allow 5 per cent GE contamination, while Europe only allows 1 per cent. How can something be GE-free if 5 per cent of it is genetically engineered? In fact, this high tolerance for contamination only proves the biotech industry can't control where its own experiment ends up."
Darier also said the report shows the desperation of the food biotech industry and Liberals in the face of massive support of mandatory labelling. Polls have consistently showed more than 90 per cent of Canadians want labels on all GE food.
"The biotech industry knows Parliament will vote on mandatory labelling this fall with Bill C-287," said Darier. "How curious that after two years of delaying tactics, a stacked committee comes out with a weak labelling recommendation just before C-287 will be voted on. They're desperate to look like they're responding to Canadians, without actually acting on Canadians' desire to know what we're eating."
Darier pointed out 35 countries - including the EU, Australia, Japan, China and Israel - have or are implementing mandatory labelling. He also said the recent example of Loblaws blacking out labels on GE-free food shows that voluntary labelling won't work.
"Canada's had voluntary GE labelling since genetic engineering began. If it worked, then Canadians wouldn't still be asking for labels," said Darier. "This proposal is as big a sham as the committee that produced it. Greenpeace opposes it because we can get the real thing after Parliament votes for Bill C-287."