BRAZIL
1.Peasants Storm Brazil Syngenta Farm
2.Brazil's landless peasants occupy Syngenta plants
3.Syngenta forbidden to plant GMOs around the Iguacu National Park
4.Conventional soya has higher value than GM soya
EXTRACT: Pereira said the protest was part of the group's 'Syngenta Out of Brazil' campaign and was timed to coincide with International Human Rights Day. The group is seeking to have Brazil eliminate genetically modified crops, which it believes harm small farmers and may prove unhealthy for human consumption.
NOTE: Thanks to Ralph Miller for items 3 and 4. If you have Portuguese speaking friends, please direct them to Ralph's translations of GM Watch material at http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=96&page=1
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1.Peasants Storm Brazil Syngenta Farm
Associated Press, December 10, 2007
http://www.fool.com/news/associated-press/2007/12/10/peasants-storm-brazil-syngenta-farm.aspx
Activists stormed a Swiss-owned farm in northeastern Brazil on Monday to protest biotech crops and the killing of an activist during a similar protest at another farm earlier this year.
Joao Paulo Pereira, a coordinator of the peasants rights group Via Campesina, said hundreds of protesters overran the farm belong to Syngenta AG near the town of Cajazeiras, blocking access to workers, knocking down fences and destroying some greenhouses before leaving.
In a statement, Syngenta said about 80 protesters took part in the events and that none of its employees were at the site at the time: security personnel were told to leave the property in order to avoid any conflicts.
Pereira said the protest was part of the group's 'Syngenta Out of Brazil' campaign and was timed to coincide with International Human Rights Day. The group is seeking to have Brazil eliminate genetically modified crops, which it believes harm small farmers and may prove unhealthy for human consumption.
He said the protest commemorated the death of activist Valmir Mota de Oliveira, killed during a protest at Syngenta farm in southern Brazil earlier this year.
Syngenta was created in 2000 when Novartis AG and AstraZeneca PLC merged their agricultural businesses. The company's Web site says that 60 percent of its corn and soybean seeds have genetically modified traits.
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2.Brazil's landless peasants occupy Syngenta plants
REUTERS,Dec 10 2007 [shortened]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7141073
BRASILIA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Brazilian landless peasants occupied two production facilities of agrochemical producer Syngenta on Monday, demanding the Swiss company leave the South American farm export giant.
Hundreds of activists broke into a Swiss-owned Syngenta agrochemical plant in the state of Sao Paulo, expelling 50 employees and shutting down production, a company spokeswoman told Reuters.
Members of the Landless Rural Workers' Movement, or MST, and the allied group Via Campesina also destroyed genetically-modified corn and soy seedlings at a Syngenta farm in the northeastern state of Ceara, the groups said.
The groups demand Syngenta leave Brazil, accusing the company of attacking landless workers and violating environmental laws.
One landless activist was shot dead in October during protests at a Syngenta farm in the southern Parana state. The MST said the farm illegally produced genetically modified crops within an environmental protection zone around the internationally-acclaimed Iguacu water falls.
Syngenta, the world's largest agrochemical company, said in a statement that it was dismayed by the occupations and that it had no participation in the October death.
The company said it was awaiting a decision from public prosecutors based on police investigations into the shooting of Valmir Mota de Oliveira. Activists accused private security guards at the farm for shooting Oliveira.
(Reporting by Raymond Colitt, editing by Vicki Allen)
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3.Justice forbids Syngenta to plant GMOs around the Iguaçu National Park.
The Paraná State Federal Justice decided that experiments with GMOs in the surroundings of the Iguaçú National Park are illegal. /according to the judge Vanessa Hoffman, the park has a management plan, that establishes a 10 km buffer zone, forbidding this activity. (Ralph Miller comments: there is a subsequent federal law reducing this to 500 m, however see the dates of the sources) The Company was fined R$ one million by IBAMA. (The Brazilian Authority for environment)
Source:
Valor Econômico, 06/12/2007.
Terra de Direitos, Press release 06/12/2007 http://www.terradedireitos.org.br/
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4.Conventional soya has higher value and there is a surplus of OGM seeds
In western Paraná soya growers of conventional soya are receiving a R$ 2.20 bonus per bag. In Mato Grosso and Goiás, two other large soya producers, the bônus has varied from R$ 1.20 to R$ 1.70. The reason for this bonus is the refusal of countries to import GMO products. Japan, the largest importer of soya, does not use GMO soya in food stuff. In Europe the refusal of GMOs is increasing. France and Austria have forbidden commercial GMO maize. In Italy, in a public poll, over 3 million Italians declared themselves against GMO products. In Portugal, tens of reagions have declared themselves free of GMOs , a position resulting from the pressure of farmers and social movements.
As a consequence non GMO soya conventional seed is more expensiove than the GMO seed, of which there is a surplus with the seed suppliers. In Mato Grosso there is a 16% surplus of GMO soya in spite of it being sold at a 30% lower price (data from the Mato Grosso Associaton of Seed Producers Agrosmat). In Goiás the surplus is estimated between 12% and 15%,
Source:
Gazeta Mercantil,27/11/2007.
Agência Estadual de NotÃcias do Paraná, 28/11/2007. (The Paraná State News Agency)
http://www.agenciadenoticias.prgov.br/modules/news/article.php?storyid=33386