Brasília, November 21, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - In a floor vote yesterday (20), the Senate approved the Provisional Measure (MP) authorizing the cultivation and commercialization of the transgenic soybean crop planted at the beginning of the second half of this year. The text sent from the Chamber of Deputies was approved without changes, despite the efforts of Senator Sibá Machado (PT-AC), alternate to the Minister of Environment, Marina Silva. Machado presented a special amendment to remove article 14 from the MP. Article 14 allows for the possibility of conceding a temporary license for varieties of transgenic seeds in the next growing season.
The argument used by the rural bloc to include article 14 in the MP, when it was under consideration in the Chamber, was that it would make it possible for research institutions like Embrapa to proceed with their investigations of genetically modified seeds until the Biosecurity Law is approved, since the article prohibits the sale of these seeds. Nevertheless, Machado claims that the article will serve as protection for companies like Monsanto to obtain temporary registration and cultivate transgenic soybeans in the country to accumulate stocks.
The senator's special amendment received the support of 10 of the PT's 14 senators.
The crop authorized by the MP is not required to present an Environmental Impact Report (Rima) from the Ibama. The MP prohibits the cultivation and commercialization of transgenic soybeans in the next growing season. Regulation of so-called genetically modified organisms (GMO's) depends upon approval of the Biosecurity Law, which is being voted in the Chamber of Deputies under the rules of urgency. The deadline for approving this bill without paralyzing other items on the deputies' voting agenda is December 14, the second-to-last day before the annual legislative session ends.
The text also determines that consumers be informed through adequate labeling on the origin of transgenic soybeans and derivatives. Responsibility for damage to the environment will be placed on the companies that hold the patent for modified soybeans. The text, as approved, now goes to the President for signature. (DAS)
