BRAZILIAN FEDERAL COURT PROHIBITS THE GROWING OF MONSANTO'S GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SOYA

Brasilia, 22 June 1999 -- A judge from the 6th Federal Court in Brazil has decided to accept Greenpeace's demand for the implementation of a full environmental impact assessment prior to the release of Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans into the environment.

Greenpeace International GE campaign co-ordinator, Benedikt Haerlin said: "Monsanto is meeting resistance everywhere it goes in the world. Consumers, farmers, environmentalists and now even the law is resisting the great genetic experiment. Brazil will now enter the next millennium GE free. This is good news for consumers that don't want to eat GM food. It's good news for the food industry that wants to keep its products free from genetically engineered ingredients. And it's also good news for those Brazilian soya bean growing states that want to remain GE free zones."

Brazil is the second biggest soya producer in the world producing 30 million tons per year, so far all GE-free. In January 1999, the governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul announced that his state would stay a GE-free zone.

The court's decision runs to 44-pages - here is a translation of 7 of the most important points:

I - Monsanto and Monsoy must present an environmental impact assessment as required in article 225 of the Federal Constitution as an indispensable condition to plant, in commercial scale, the RR soybean;

II - Monsanto and Monsoy are prohibited from commercialising the GE seeds until the government has regulated and defined the rules of biosafety and labelling of GMOs;

III - With reference to the request for a deregulation study for the RR soya, the planting, in commercial scale, of the referred product is suspended until the technical doubts presented by respected researchers regarding possible faults of the CTN-Bio are clarified. (National Technical Commission on Biosafety)

IV - the companies involved [Monsanto and Monsoy] will have to present, in 10 days, an authentic copy of the Biosafety Quality Certificate (CQB) as referred to in paragraph 3o. of the article 2o. of the Law no. 8.974/95 and the article 8o., kaput, of the Decree 1.752 of 20/dec/95;

V - The CTN-Bio will have to present to this court, within a period of 10 days, authentic copies of the curriculum vitae of its effective members and substitutes, to judicial conference of the qualification required by the paragraphs 1o. and 2o. of the article 3o. of the decree 1.752/95. Furthermore, in the same period, authentic copies of the elements that are part of the process no. 01200.002402/98-60 referred to by the Communicate no. 54, of 29/sep/1998 must be sent to the court.

VI - the Ministers of Agriculture, Science and Technology, Environment and Health must not give any new authorisation to the companies [Monsanto and Monsoy] before the judicial determinations here stated are accomplished and the authorisations which have been given are suspended;

VII - it is established that a fine of 10 (ten) minimum-wages, per day, [approximately US$ 742] will be applied to private and public violators [of this decision] (Law no. 7.347/85, article 11);

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