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URGENT ACTION REQUIRED TO PRESERVE RIO
GRANDE DO SUL'S STATUS
AS A
"GMO- FREE ZONE"
March
17th, 2000
 In
March 1999 the governor of the Brazilian State of Rio Grande
do Sul, Olivio Dutra, issued a decree to declare the southern
Brazilian state a "GMO free Zone". At present no genetically
engineered crops are allowed to be planted in Brazil. However,
Monsanto's application to sell it's "Roundup Ready" soybeans
was only stopped at the Federal Court of Justice by Greenpeace
and the consumer organisation IDEC.
Monsanto seeds have been smuggled into the region from Argentina
and threaten to contaminate Rio Grande do Sul's native soybeans.
Monsanto ran an aggressive promotion campaign for their genetically
engineered soybeans despite the fact that they are illegal
in Brazil. Hence the government took measures to stop the
illegal planting of genetically engineered soybeans.
Monsanto and
some soybean farmers in Rio Grande do Sul have openly opposed
the governor's policy and opposition parties initiatiated
a legislative motion in the regional parliament to refer all
further measures to the federal government, which is known
to be in favour of genetically engineered crops. This motion
passed the local government, but was then vetoed by governor
Dutra.
Within the next
few days the Parliament of Rio Grande do Sul will be voting
on whether to overrule this veto or not. The vote is expected
to be very close. The Brazilian organisations; Greenpeace
Brazil, IDEC, AS-PTA, Action Aid, Fase, Inesc, Ibase, Colmeia
and Agapan would appreciate you supporting Olivio Dutra's
project to keep Rio Grande do Sul free of genetically engineered
soybeans and to uphold the right of his state to decide on
these matters as stated in the Brazilian constitution.
Agapan (agapan@ax.apc.org.br)
and Comeia (colmeia@colmeia.com.br)
are collecting letters of support.
If you want to
write to the members of Parliament, who have supported the
initial motion in favour of Monsanto's RR soybeans, please
feel free to use the following guideline text:
IN
DEFENCE OF LIFE
We wish to endorse the initiative of Olivio Dutra, Governor
of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to veto the
proposed law which has been designed to remove from the
State of Rio Grande do Sul its constitutional competence
to make decisions on health and environment with respect
to activities involving genetically modified organisms.
We re-affirm that it is the duty of the public authority
of the state to protect health, the environment and the
consumer and to fully adopt the precautionary principle
which now has international recognition. |
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EM
DEFESA DA VIDA
Manifesto
o meu apoio à iniciativa do Governador Olívio Dutra
de vetar o projeto de lei que tem a intenção de retirar
do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul a competência constitucional
para dispor sobre a saúde e o meio ambiente no que diz
respeito às atividades envolvendo organismos geneticamente
modificados (transgênicos). Reafirmo que é dever do
Poder Público Estadual proteger a saúde, o meio ambiente
e o consumidor, adotando plenamente o princípio de precaução
reconhecido internacionalmente.
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and mail
to one or all of the following:
Adolfo Brito
PPB ajbrito@al.rs.gov.br
Érico Ribeiro PPB ericoribeiro@al.rs.gov.br
Francisco Appio PPB appio@al.rs.gov.br
Frederico Antunes PPB fredericoantunes@al.rs.gov.br
João Fischer PPB fixinha@al.rs.gov.br
José Farret PPB josefarret@al.rs.gov.br
Marco Peixoto PPB mpeixoto@al.rs.gov.br
Maria do Carmo PPB mcarmo@al.rs.gov.br
Otomar Vivian PPB otomarvivian@al.rs.gov.br
Valdir Andres PPB vandres@al.rs.gov.br
Vilson Covatti PPB covatti@al.rs.gov.br
Berfran Rosado PMDB berfranrosado@al.rs.gov.br
Cezar Busatto PMDB cezarbusatto@al.rs.gov.br
Elmar Schneider PMDB schneider@al.rs.gov.br
Giovani Feltes PMDB giovanif@al.rs.gov.br
Jair Foscarini PMDB foscarini@al.rs.gov.br
João Osório PMDB josorio@al.rs.gov.br
José Ivo Sartori PMDB jsartori@al.rs.gov.br
Mário Bernd PMDB mariobernd@al.rs.gov.br
Paulo Odone PMDB odone@al.rs.gov.br
Abilio Santos PTB abiliosantos@al.rs.gov.br
Aloisio Classmann PTB aloisioclassmann@al.rs.gov.br
Eliseu Santos PTB dreliseu@al.rs.gov.br
Iradir Pietroski PTB pietrosk@al.rs.gov.br
Luis Augusto Lara PTB luisaugusto.lara@al.rs.gov.br
Kalil Sehbe Neto PDT kalil@al.rs.gov.br
Paulo Azeredo PDT pazeredo@al.rs.gov.br
Adilson Troca PSDB adilsontroca@al.rs.gov.br
Jorge Gobbi PSDB jorgegobbi@al.rs.gov.br
Germano Bonow PFL germanobonow@al.rs.gov.br
Onyx Lorenzoni PFL onyxlorenzoni@al.rs.gov.br
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