Brasília, February 6, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Minister of Environment, Marina Silva, said she is satisfied with the Chamber of Deputies' approval, yesterday (5), of the Biosecurity Law bill in the pre-dawn hours. "We hope the Senate will approve the project as soon as possible, so that we can have an adequate legal framework in Brazil to deal with the question of genetically modified organisms," she added. She made these declarations following yesterday's ceremony in the Planalto Palace to launch the National Forest Program.

The Minister did not go so far as to claim that the approval was a victory over the rural bloc, which favors a more flexible law for the commercialization of transgenics. "I view it as a useful effort carried out in the National Congress by 11 Ministries, coordinated by the Presidential Civilian Advisory Office, permitting the formulation of a substitute bill considered adequate by the government, the majority of the legislators, and a large part of the various sectors of society and the scientific community," Silva affirmed. (DAS)