February 21, 2007
USDA/FAS GAIN report BR 7607
Source:
http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200702/146280222.pdf
Update of biotechnology issues
in Brazil
Report highlights
Agricultural biotechnology
continues to be a difficult issue in Brazil as government
agencies, consumers, and environmental groups are divided on
how to approach, conduct research on, and approve commercial
applications for biotech products. These differences have
kept the National Technical Commission of Biosafety - CTNBio
from approving new biotech events.
Despite the approval of Brazil’s
Biosafety Law (#11,105 on March 24, 2005), followed by the
signing of Presidential Decree (#5,591 on November 22, 2005),
which implemented the new law, agricultural biotechnology
continues to be a difficult issue in Brazil. Government
agencies, consumers and environmental groups are divided on how
to approach, conduct research on, and approve commercial
applications for biotech products. The center of controversy is
now the two-thirds vote requirement for approval of biotech
events by the National
Technical Commission of Biosafety (CTNBio).
CTNBio is a board of 27 members
linked to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT). As per
the above Presidential Decree, the Commission was extended from
18 to 27 members to include official representatives from nine
ministries of the federal government, twelve specialists with
scientific and technical knowledge from four different areas
including animal, plant, environment, and health (three
specialists from each area), and six other specialists from
other areas such as consumer defense and family farming.
Environmentalists and antibiotech groups who are represented on
the board of CTNBio are boycotting commercial approvals of
biotech events, which affect the interests of foreign companies
in Brazil, especially Monsanto. Also, because CTNBio must
approve any request for imports of biotech products, such as
corn, U.S. corn exporters are excluded from this market.
The Brazilian lower house has
approved a draft provisional measure that introduces some
changes to the Biosafety Law approved in 2005 and specifically
reduces the required vote of CTNBio to a simple majority of 14.
The purpose is to facilitate the approvals of commercial biotech
events based on sound-science. The bill is now in the Senate and
once approved will be forwarded to the president’s office for
signature by late March 2007.
The first CTNBio’s meeting of 2007
(Feb 14-15) was concluded with no approval of biotech events due
to the pressures of the environmentalists, specifically
Greenpeace. The Commission got together in Brasilia to approve
LL corn event from Bayer Crop Science and other events from
Monsanto and Syngenta. A total of 10 events are in line to be
approved by CTNBio (six for corn, three for cotton, and one for
rice).
Meantime, Brazil had significant
growth in biotech soybean area during the 2006/07-soybean crop.
Brazil is now considered the third largest country in biotech
crop area, after the United States and Argentina. The next major
step regarding the development of biotech crops in Brazil will
be the approval for commercial application of biotech cotton and
corn. News on illegal planting of these two-biotech crops grows
each day in Brazil’s press.
On February 8, 2007 President Lula
signed decree (#6,041), establishing a National Development
Policy Plan for Biotechnology and created the National Committee
on Biotechnology formed of 17 ministries and agencies of the
federal government. He also announced his intention of investing
10 billion reais (about US$ 5 billion) during the next 10 years.
The plan calls for a national policy for biotechnology aimed at
four main areas: human health, industry, environment, and
agriculture and livestock. Criticism over this new plan mounted
in Brazil’s press because the President declined from citing the
fund sources for this new plan and principally because it has
not addressed the problems faced by CTNBio under the current
legal framework to approve new commercial biotech products.
Private companies are reluctant to invest in such legal
framework.
More news
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