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Biotech / Medical : Monsanto Co. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1662)	3/17/1999 3:15:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2539

03/17 14:35 Monsanto says to sell Brazil transgenic soy in '99 SAO PAULO, March 17 (Reuters) - U.S. biotechnology giant Monsanto Co. <MTC.N> should win legal approval in the next two to three months to begin selling transgenic soybeans in Brazil, a top executive at the local subsidiary said on Wednesday. "We are expecting no surprises," said Rodrigo Lopes Almeida, corporate affairs director at Monsanto do Brasil. "We are finalizing the agronomic data and within one to two months (the transgenic soybean) should be registered...We should begin sales this year." Brazil broke its ban on transgenic crops last September when it approved the safety of Monsanto's herbicide-resistant Roundup Ready soybeans, legally allowing them to be treated like any other crop in the registration process. But attention surrounding the Roundup Ready soybeans' passage to commercialization has been anything but run-of-the-mill. Environmental groups led by Greenpeace have opposed their sale on health concerns as has the governor of the country's major soybean producing state of Rio Grande do Sul. That state, which hopes to sell to European consumers opposed to transgenics, is expected to turn out 22 percent of Brazil's 30.92 million tonne 1998/99 crop -- the world's largest behind the United States. Meanwhile, Greenpeace alleged in a press release Wednesday that Monsanto had officially withdrawn its request to commercialize Roundup Ready in Brazil -- a claim Almeida strongly denied. "That is not true," Almeida said, adding it would be impossible to withdraw a request that the company had not yet submitted. He added, however, that the company had withdrawn its request for protection of Roundup Ready under Brazil's intellectual property rights registry. That request, he said, would be resubmitted in upcoming months with additional agronomic information. Almeida said the move would not delay commercialization of Roundup Ready soybeans, which the company has estimated will cover half of the nearly 13 million hectares Brazilian farmers dedicate to the crop within just three years. "This was based on a misunderstanding of the legal process." he said. "Everything is proceeding within the expected time frame." moneynet.com@NEWS-P2&Index=0&HeadlineURL=../News/NewsHeadlines.asp&DISABLE_FORM=&NAVSVC=News\Company