Brasília, September 25, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Protestors from Greenpeace held a demonstration this morning in front of the Planalto Palace, in opposition to the authorization to plant genetically modified organisms in the country. One of the demonstrators used a mask with Lula's face and a Presidential sash on which was written "PT - Party of the Transgenics." Two of the protestors carried a poster with a question that Lula was asked last September, when he was a Presidential candidate: "Lula, if you are elected, will you maintain the ban against sales of transgenics in the country?" According to Greenpeace, Lula's response was affirmative.

The demonstrators tried to climb the ramp of the palace, but they were stopped by security guards. The coordinator of Greenpeace Brazil's Consumers Campaign, Tatiana Carvalho, affirmed that the protestors will persist until the acting President decides whether or not to sign the provisional order permitting the cultivation of transgenic soybeans in this planting season. "If the provisional order is signed, we shall seek the appropriate judicial measures," she affirmed. According to Carvalho, Greenpeace is opposed to transgenics all over the world, since there exists the risk that genetically modified seeds will contaminate other plants, doing harm to biodiversity.

Another problem, according to Carvalho, is consumers' lack of information. "When the government published the provisional order at the beginning of the year authorizing the sale of transgenic soybeans planted in the last harvest, it committed itself to inspecting the labelling of transgenic products, which did not occur. Nowadays, the consumer doesn't know whether or not he(she) is buying genetically modified food products," she affirmed. The activist recalled that there is no scientific proof that transgenic food products are healthful. (DAS)