Curitiba, 5/4/2004 (Agência Brasil) - Greenpeace protesters closed the entrance to the port of Paranaguá, in the southern state of Paraná on Monday in order to halt the unloading of a ship from Argentina carrying 30,000 tons of genetically-modified (GM) soybeans. The blocked the port with their ship, the "Artic Sunrise." According to spokesmen for the protesters, the objective was to ensure that non-GM soybeans did not get contaminated by the GM soybeans.

Greenpeace is calling its protest activities "A Better Brazil Without GM Crops." Gabriela Vuolo, a scientist with Greenpeace, says that Brazil could lose its economic advantage as the world's biggest exporter of non-GM soybeans if steps are not taken to prevent contamination.

Greenpeace says it will leave only when Brazilian authorities implant an effective control system which guarantees complete information on GM food.

Translator: Allen Bennett