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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... 1999
Releases
The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly. |
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| MARCH
17, 1999 12:34 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Greenpeace USA Racine Tucker-Hamilton 202-319-2435 |
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| Brazil Poised to Control Market for GM-Free Soybeans | ||||
| WASHINGTON
- March 17 - Greenpeace applauds Brazilian environmental and consumer groups for standing up
to Monsanto's attempts to force genetically modified soybeans into their food
supply. Yesterday, St Louis based Monsanto announced that it had withdrawn its
applications for approval of their genetically modified (GM) Roundup Ready
soybeans in Brazil. Brazil is the world's second largest exporter of soybeans,
which are used in 60 percent of processed foods, including bread, pasta, yogurt,
chocolate and ice-cream. US soybean exports dropped sharply last year, largely
because of markets that have been lost due to the controversy over GM-foods.
"If Monsanto has their way, American crops won't be worth a hill of beans," said Greenpeace spokesperson Charles Margulis. "Our farmers need to know that the world will not be force-fed these unwanted and unneeded genetically manipulated foods." While Monsanto has been aggressively marketing genetically engineered seeds in the US, its efforts around the world have met with fierce resistance. In Brazil, concern from scientists and regulators, along with massive opposition from environmental and consumer organizations, forced the company's decision. Last week IBAMA, the Brazilian environmental state agency formally joined a lawsuit filed by Greenpeace Brazil that challenges the approval of Monsanto's GM soybeans. Also the Governor of Rio Grande del Sul, one of Brazil's major soybean growing states, declared his state a "GM-free zone". Consumers around the world have strongly expressed their preference for "GM-free" foods. In the UK yesterday, one of the countries' largest food retailers, J. Sainsbury's announced that it will not sell any genetically engineered products under it's own label. Sainsbury's also revealed that it had formed a consortium of major European retailers, including Marks & Spencer (UK), Carrefour (France), Superquinn (Ireland), Migros (Switzerland), Delhaiz (Belgium) and Esselunga (Italy), who will jointly source GM-free products. Top food processors in Japan have also started selling GM-free foods, including the tofu-producer Taishi Shokuhin Kogyo, which has stopped purchasing US soybeans. Greenpeace expects to see more European supermarket chains and food producers join the GM-free consortium in the next few days. Several other major food producers and retailers, such as Unilever in Germany and Austria, have already declared that they are GM free, as have 90 percent of all supermarkets in Austria and countless small producers. "American consumers will soon realize that we are the lone guinea pigs in this corporate experiment on our food," said Margulis. "Farmers who go GM-free now will have the edge in the marketplace here and abroad." ### |
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