Brazil stops Monsanto's work on altered soybeans.
March 19, 1999
Brazil Ends Work on Altered Soybean
Filed at 6:49 p.m. EST
By The Associated Press
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Authorities in a southern state of Brazil ordered
work stopped Friday on a plantation where chemical conglomerate Monsanto
is growing a new genetically altered soybean.
The move comes only days after Rio Grande do Sul state ordered Monsanto
to provide environmental impact statements for all the areas where they are
growing genetically altered crops.
''Whoever fails to inform the agriculture secretariat (about research on
genetically altered organisms) cannot continue to work,'' said Jose Hermeto
Hoffman, the state's agriculture secretary.
Monsanto's director of corporate affairs, Rodrigo Almeida, said the company
would go to court in order to continue production of the genetically modified
soybeans.
In September, the Brazilian government approved Monsanto's request to
produce the genetically modified seeds, which are designed to withstand a
powerful herbicide also made by Monsanto.
Earlier in the week, Monsanto withdrew its application to register the seeds
as intellectual property claiming they needed to make some corrections to the
application.
Hoffman said Monsanto was the first company to have operations halted
under a decree issued on March 3, which requires companies working with
genetically modified organisms to obtain a license from the state. The state
will now monitor operations at all Monsanto plantations to ensure that no
genetically altered grains make it to market.
With 160 million people, Brazil is an important part of the Monsanto's plan to
engineer the genetic codes of crops grown in different regions around the
world.
Monsanto still hopes to distribute the seeds produced in Brazil for commercial
planting by mid-1999, for harvest in early 2000.
Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company |
