Brazil Panel OKs Modified Soybeans
APO 25.09.98 00:26
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BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) -- A government commission on Thursday approved a request by
Monsanto Co.'s Brazilian affiliate to produce genetically modified soybeans.
The ruling by the National Technical Commission for Biological Safety found that
production and consumption of genetically modified soybeans offers no threat to the
environment or to human and animal health, Monsanto said.
Monsanto still needs the approval of the Agriculture ministry and probably that of the
Environment ministry before it can begin producing genetically altered soybeans
commercially.
The ruling also does not alter last week's court injunction preventing genetically altered
beans from being planted in Brazil.
For St. Louis-based Monsanto, that ruling was a serious setback since the company had
hoped to plant the soybeans during the Brazilian planting season in October and November.
Brazil represents tens of millions dollars in potential sales for Monsanto. With 160
million people, Brazil is an important cog in the company's plan to change the genetic
codes of crops around the world.
The soybeans in question are one of Monsanto's Roundup Ready products, genetically altered
to allow liberal application of Monsanto herbicides.
Monsanto hopes to distribute the seeds produced in Brazil for commercial planting by
mid-1999, for harvest in early 2000, said Luiz Antonio Abramides, from Monsanto's
regulatory affairs office.
"The procedures to launch these beans into the market are already in place because
this soy is as safe as the conventional one," he said.
Rodrigo Almeida, Monsanto's South American director of corporate affairs, told the
Associated Press earlier that he was confident that Monsanto could change the judge's
ruling, perhaps as early as this week. He asserted that no risks from modified soybeans
have been detected in tests or in commercial use in the United States.