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 Update from the GM-Free Brazil Campaign
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Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, May 23, 2007.

Greetings from Brazil

Civil society groups from the GM-Free Brazil Campaign were able to avoid the GM maize commercial authorization on CTNBio’s April meeting by managing to have legal authorization to get into the Commission’s room as observers. At the time, the simple fact of being observed made CTNBio’s members uncomfortable to take such a polemic and unscientific decision.
 
Unfortunately, transparency postponed the authorization, but didn’t block it. Industry lobby and the federal government decided to change strategy and rush with the commercial authorization before CTNBio’s methods and lack of rigor became even more explicit.

The article bellow is the last issue from the weekly "For a GM Free Brazil Bulletin", translated for GM Watch by Ralph Miller.

GM Watch NOTE: Since the decision making of Brazil's regulatory commission CNTBio has been opened up to public scrutiny, the farcical nature of the way it carries out GMO approvals has been made apparent. Sadly, of course, what's going on in Brazil is matched in many other countries around the world.

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CTNBio liberates GM corn by force

Last Wednesday (05/16) the CNTBio approved the commercial release of Bayer's GM corn, by 17 votes to 5. Without the recent changes the government made to the law, there would have been no approval, as the number of necessary votes would have been 18. Now a simple majority of 14 out of 27 is enough.

Right at the start of the meeting, the Commission's president made clear the day's objective: "I may be subject to a penalty if I don't put to the vote" the commercial release of the corn. The necessity of giving the biotech market concrete answers was evident.

Members of the Commission questioned the lack of data regarding the corn's environmental impact, the absence of internal norms to evaluate the requests for commercial liberation and the fact that CNTBio ignored the contributions made during the public hearing when the liberation of the GM corn was debated. The decision had already been made.

CTNBio also circumvented the rules regarding the Biosafety Edict by not appointing a relater for the Assembly who should have submitted a synthetic opinion with the votes of the sectorial commissions for health and environment. The representatives of the multinationals and the farmers present were keeping an eye on proceedings.

All the scientific arguments showing the risks and the issues that had not been studied regarding GM corn, brought up by CTNBio members, were solemnly disregarded by the Commission's pro-biotechnology majority.

When questioned about the mistake it would be to approve the corn without before establishing a plan on how to monitor post-commercialization and the rules for coexistence (sic) between GM and non GM plantations, the Commission's president immediately said there was no sense in creating these norms, as nothing had been liberated. First one has to liberate. Besides, the president  Walter Colli himself completed his reasoning, ironically commenting  the necessity of post-commercialization, as, for him, this would only be useful to seek "eventual problems he didn't see" that might exist with the GMOs. This sentence, emblematically illustrates what CNTBio is: a Commission who's legal mission is to evaluate the risks and impact of the GMOs, but that the majority of the members, beginning with its president, don't believe exist.

In face of all the irregularities committed by CNTBio, the Federal Public Prosecutor has already stated it will take the case to Law, in order to submit an appeal against the decision.

Things, in CNTBio, are made with such a lack of strictness and seriousness that, on the day following the liberation of Bayer's corn, the Liberty Link, its members held a meeting to take steps to create new rules to evaluate the requests for the commercial liberation of GMOs.

It was interesting to observe those persons, who on the previous day had voted "yes" to the liberation, afterwards defending the necessity of prior studies, without which a GMO should not be  liberated. If these rules that are being created had been in effect, Bayer's corn would not have been approved.

During CNTBio's next meeting, in June, these rules for commercial liberation will not have completed and everything indicates that it will be Monsanto's turn to be awarded, by the government, through CNTBio's "technical" decisions (liberating Monsanto's Bt MON 810). The worst is that probably the same will happen to other requests for commercial liberation that are on the Commission's agenda. This way the Commission makes it seem it's looking for strictness in its decisions, while liberating requests without such rules.

Another high point of the meeting was the letter of resignation submitted the Commission by the civil society's representative, the environmental specialist Dr. Lia Giraldo. She showed the Commission's irregularities, such as the lack of conflict of interest declarations of several of the Commission's members and declared that many of the specialists make preconceived votes and consider biosafety questions as stumbling blocks to biotechnology's advance. In the understanding of the late civil society's representative, the Commission "hasn't the conditions of answering for the duties the Law confers."

Fiscal and registering bodies such as IBAMA (Brazilian Environment Institute) and Anvisa (National Agency for Sanitary Vigilance) may submit an appeal against CNTBio's decision and the National Biosafetry Commission may assemble the eleven ministers that compose it to decide on the social and economical aspects of the liberation and on the eventual technical disagreements between the CNTBio and the fiscal and registering bodies - IBAMA and Anvisa, as well as competent body of the Ministry of Agriculture.

In the meanwhile the planting of any GMO corn continues to be forbidden in the Country. And, once liberated the contamination of non GMO varieties will be overwhelming.

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GM-FREE BRAZIL - Published by AS-PTA Assessoria e Serviços a Projetos em Agricultura Alternativa. The GM-Free Brazil Campaign is a collective of Brazilian NGOs, social movements and individuals.

AS-PTA an independent, not-for-profit Brazilian organisation dedicated to promoting the sustainable rural development. Head office: Rua da Candelária, 9/6º andar/ CEP: 20.091-020, Centro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Phone: 0055-21-2253-8317 Fax: 0055-21-2233-363

This article can be found on the AS-PTA website at http://www.aspta.org.br

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