Brazil's Parana State Pushes for GMO-Free Status by Natuza Nery, Reuters Date : 2004/10/27

Brazil's No. 2 soybean producing state of Parana said it asked the federal government on Monday to recognize it as an area free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the state government said.
Brazil is one of the world's last major agricultural exporters to ban GMOs, although its soybean producers have ignored the ban for half a decade and grower and seed producer groups say almost a third of Brazil's soy crop is GMO. The South American country, with its massive untapped agricultural potential, has become the front line of a battle over GMO crops.
Environmentalists and Marxists say GMOs may be harmful to the environment and the health of humans, and benefits big industrial producers at the cost of small family farming. But farmers and scientists say the technology is better for the environment because it requires less chemicals to protect the crops and, as a result, is cheaper to produce. The Parana government's Internet site (www.pr.gov.br) published the document which Populist Governor Roberto Requiao sent to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues, Environment Minister Marina Silva. "In the results presented here, specifically those obtained from the 2003/04 crop, it is evident that the production of GMO soybeans is insignificant and is totally under control," said the document signed by Requiao.
A new biosafety bill has been awaiting passage in Congress for a year now, which is intended to regulate biotechnology in Brazil and legalize the planting and sale of GMO soybeans. Until then, the government has issued three temporary decrees in 2003 and 2004 to grant amnesty from prosecution to soy producers for planting illegal GMO beans. But the decrees also raised the possibility of creating GMO-free zones if they can be proven to be indeed free of GMOs. In the state's request, Requiao repeated his request that the agriculture ministry in Brasilia pass on a list of the 554 names of Parana producers that registered their crops as GMO as a prerequisite of receiving amnesty under the decrees.
Requiao accused Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues of obstructing his access to information on the planting of GMO soy in his state. The agriculture ministry has not returned a request for comment on Tuesday. The governor has managed to turn Brazil's main grain port of Paranagua into a GMO-free port, but a Brazilian federal court shot down his previous attempt to declare the state GMO-free. Parana's request to the government included field research results conducted by the Federal University of Parana during the 2003/04 (Oct-Sept) crop which conducted 10,024 tests of seeds, plants and commercial beans in the state. Of the 8,505 plant samples taken across the state, 32 showed up positive as GMO soybeans -- representing 505 hectares (1,250 acres).
The samples that tested positive for GMO's represent 16 of the state's 399 municipalities. Gov. Requiao has said he intends to keep the port and as much of his state GMO-free because he believes the state will receive premiums for conventional soybeans from health conscious consumers in Asia and Europe. But analysts and traders said non-GMO soy is still only a niche market and Brazil's conventional soy has never earned a premium in the past.