A report suggests that a lawyer working for Monsanto was behind a previous attempt to legalise Terminator seeds in Brazil.
Recently GMWatch published an article about the pressure being brought on legislators in Brazil to approve Terminator seeds.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php/news/archive/2013/15216
The article quoted Monsanto as claiming it knew nothing about these latest developments and as standing by its previous commitment not to pursue Terminator.
However, an article (below) from the Brazilian press from 2011 reports that Monsanto was behind at least one of Brazil's previous attempted legislations of terminator seed, though the company was less than candid about its involvement.
According to the article, a lawyer who "serves Monsanto regarding this issue" even wrote the legislation.
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Lawyer denies authorship of Terminator bill as contradictions become increasingly evident
Instituto Humanitas Unisinos (Brazil), 8 Jan 2011
http://www.ihu.unisinos.br/noticias/39684-advogada-nega-autoria-do-pl-terminator-e-contradicoes-ficam-cada-vez-mais-evidentes
Attorney Patricia Fukuma, from the office of Fukuma Lawyers, has denied that she was a coauthor of the bill of the government leader, Mr Candido Vaccarezza (PT-SP), on the release of the use of sterile seeds in Brazil. In a note forwarded to the [site?], the attorney states that she "does not know why" her name appears on the document obtained by this reporter.
The information was provided by the AS-PTA Newsletter of 07/01/2011 and was originally published by Congress in Focus website, 22/12/2010.
According to the document, the name of Patricia Fukuma was in the properties[?] of the Draft Law 5575/2009 file. The document was available for public access in the main hall until the publication of the report of the Congress in Focus. The lawyer was named on the document as the author.
"I repeat that I am not a co-author of the draft PL5575/2009 law, authored by Congressman Candido Vaccarezza, as I explained to the journalist Renata Camargo over three short phone conversations. I do not know why my name appears in the document obtained by the journalist," she says.
In a conversation recorded last Monday (20), Patricia said that she was not the sole author of the project, but gave "some opinions": "The authorship is not entirely mine."
The contextualized recording says: "Actually, it was sent to me so that I could take a look at the project. I looked around and gave some opinions. I actually reviewed the part on labeling and other matters. It is not entirely my authorship. I've reviewed it, let's say…," she said.
In the note forwarded to the site[?], Patricia also says she is not, and never was, a lawyer for Monsanto. The lawyer says that her name is not [included] "in any legal proceedings currently pending in Brazil and in which the company is a party". In the recorded conversation, a spokesperson for the multinational listed Patricia as one of the "people who serve Monsanto regarding this issue". The office of Fukuma Lawyers also confirmed by phone that the group is serving Monsanto. ( ... )