Download: http://bit.ly/750studies

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Futuragene-Suzano wants to make Brazil the unique country in the world to adopt this technology. But the company itself recognizes that did not assess the effects of the genetic modification that makes the plant increase wood production [1]. Besides that, sustains that it missed the timing to study the impact on bees and honey production [2].

Eucalyptus are mainly pollinated by bees and honey is a product of high medicinal and nutritional value. The company recognizes that bees fly more than 6 km and that other plantations may be contaminated [4], but claims this is not a problem since today clones are used instead of seeds. On the other hand, only in 2013 the Instituto de Pesquisas Florestais (Forest Research Institute) comercialized 525 kg of eucalyptus seeds [5], which would be enough to plant more than 10.000 hectares.

The company also failed to assess nutritional aspects from the honey produced by bees that visited transgenics trees and did not run any trial regarding its toxicity and alergenicity [6]. It is thus impossible to say whether it is safe or not to consume this honey.

What will happen with hives and honey production? And what about the organic production?

Socioenvironmental certificates like the FSC do not accept genetically modified trees [7].

Futuragene-Suzano states that the H421 eucalyptus produces higher yields and will than avoid deforestation. The industry nevertheless projects a growth by 50% until 2020, reaching 9 million ha in Brazil [8].

There are no studies available to date to assess the potential impacts of the GM eucalyptus. A reliable decision cannot be reached without this information. That is what foresees the precautionary principle, present in the first article of the Brazilian biosafety law (11.105, from march 24th 2005).

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Contacts:

Prof. Paulo Kageyama – [email protected]

João Dagoberto dos Santos, PhD – [email protected]

[1] Ex. p.12, 56, 67 e 69 from the dossier available at http://bit.ly/eucaliptoGM

[2] Idem, p. 17, 76 e 134.

[3] Ibidem, p. 225.

[4] Ibidem, p. 11, 13, 125, 129.

[5 Relatório IPEF 2013.

[6] http://bit.ly/fsc-gm-trees

[7] ABRAF, 2011.

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During the evaluation, a CTNBio member had presented a report with information questioning the impact of the GM mosquitoes on the incidence of dengue and warning that in some circumstances the releases could make the disease worse, even if the number of wild Aedes aegypti mosquitoes was reduced. The whole argumentative document is available here. The concerns raised did not convince the majority of the Commission, and GM mosquito commercial released was approved.

The promise is to commercialize genetically modified mosquitoes that would end dengue, but results from field trials conducted in Bahia, Brazil have not been published to date and did not evaluate the relation between Aedes aegypti mosquito populations and the occurrence of dengue. On the other hand, the town in Brazil where releases of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes took place is still suffering to increasing dengue incidence, leading to an emergency decree renewing the state of emergency “due to the abnormal situation characterized as a biological disaster of dengue epidemic”.

Click here for more on this issue

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Joint Press Release: Agricultura Familiar e Agroecologia (AS-PTA), Red América Latina Libre de Transgénicos (RALLT), Third World Network, GeneWatch UK

8th July 2014

Civil society groups today expressed alarm at an increase in dengue incidence, leading to an emergency decree, in a town in Brazil where releases of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes are taking place.

The promise was to create genetically modified mosquitoes that would end dengue, but results from field trials conducted in Bahia, Brazil have not been published to date and did not evaluate the relation between Aedes aegypti mosquito populations and the occurrence of dengue [1]. Nevertheless, the Brazilian regulator Comissão Técnica Nacional de Biossegurança (CTNBio) recently gave the green light to the commercialization of the technology proposed by Moscamed Brazil in partnership with the English company Oxitec and the Universidade de São Paulo.

The Brazilian press had welcomed the new weapon to combat dengue but missed the information that Jacobina’s mayor, a locality where the trials took place, issued a decree in February 2014 renewing the state of emergency “due to the abnormal situation characterized as a biological disaster of dengue epidemic.” [2]. Before that, Moscamed had announced 81% and 100% reduction in the number of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in at least two localities of Jacobina, claiming that this meant the experiments were a success [3]. According to Oxitec, pilot-scale releases started in the north-west of Jacobina in June 2013 and the programme will roll out across the entire city over two or three years [4].

During the evaluation of the commercial application for the release of the GM mosquito, a CTNBio member had presented a report with information questioning the impact of the GM mosquitoes on the incidence of dengue and warning that in some circumstances the releases could make the disease worse, even if the number of wild Aedes aegypti mosquitoes was reduced.  The concerns raised did not convince the majority of the Commission. The Brazilian National Agency of Sanitary Vigilance (ANVISA) is now in charge of registering and monitoring the product, which according to the company’s recommendation implies weekly releases of 10 million GM mosquitoes for every 50 thousand inhabitants. Meanwhile, the date of publication of the promised results remains unclear.

Brazilian and international civil society organisations, including AS-PTA, Third World Network, RALLT (Network for a GM Free Latin America) and GeneWatch UK, today called on ANVISA to require Oxitec to publish the results of its experiments in a scientific journal and to cease further experiments and the commercial use of this technology until it has assessed the effects on the incidence of dengue and put an effective monitoring programme for the disease in place.

“CTNBio should review its decision to approve commercialization in light of the reality seen in Jacobina and ask for further serious studies on the full implications of releasing the GM mosquito over the local population” said Gabriel Fernandes, from AS-PTA, Brazil.

“Oxitec is knocking on the doors of many countries, promoting its GM mosquitoes as being able to address the serious threat of dengue. Yet, with no concrete proof that this technology is able to reduce dengue incidence, any approval of the GM mosquitoes would be grossly premature,” said Lim Li Ching, Senior Researcher at Third World Network.

“It is extraordinary that experiments with Oxitec’s GM mosquitoes continue and commercial releases have even been approved without any monitoring of the effect on dengue“, said Dr Helen Wallace, Director of GeneWatch UK “The declaration of a dengue emergency in Jacobina should be a wake-up call for the authorities“.

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For further information contact:

Gabriel B. Fernandes, Technical Advisor, AS-PTA, Brazil: + 55 21 987 341 669 (mobile)

Lim Li Ching, Senior Researcher, Third World Network, Malaysia: +603-79555220 (office); +6012-2079744 (mobile)

Dr Helen Wallace, Director, GeneWatch UK: +44-1298-24300 (office); +44-7903-311584 (mobile)

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Notes for Editors:

[1] Reducing the numbers of mosquitoes does not necessarily reduce the incidence of disease as the number of mosquitoes needed to transmit the disease is low. Further, the targetted mosquitoes may simply move to another area and/or a different species of mosquito (Aedes albopictus) which also transmits dengue can move into the area. Complex immune responses to the four types of dengue virus mean that a partial reduction in mosquito numbers can reduce cross-immunity to the different serotypes and increase the number of cases of the severe form of the disease, Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever, which is more likely to be fatal. Success in reducing illness in young children can also mean more delayed and serious cases of dengue. See for example: Thavara, U., Tawatsin, A., & Nagao, Y. (2014). Simulations to compare efficacies of tetravalent dengue vaccines and mosquito vector control. Epidemiology & Infection, 142(06), 1245-1258. http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FHYG%2FHYG142_06%2FS0950268813001866a.pdf&code=41e23427121b1dfb559d97c60a9e146d

[2] DECRETO No. 089 de 10 de fevereiro de 2014  http://aspta.org.br/files/2014/05/Decreto-Jacobina2014.pdf

[3] Comissão de biossegurança aprova mosquito da dengue transgênico, G1, 11/04/2014. Available at: http://g1.globo.com/ciencia-e-saude/noticia/2014/04/brasil-libera-producao-de-inseto-transgenico-que-combate-dengue.html

[4] Dengue fever. The fastest growing mosquito-borne disease. E-book. Oxitec. January 2014. http://www.oxitec.com/wpcms/files/OXITEC-Dengue-booklet1.pdf

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O post Joint PR: Alarm at renewed dengue emergency situation in municipality where GM mosquito trials conducted apareceu primeiro em AS-PTA.

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Update from the GM-Free Brazil Campaign

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Brazil | Rio de Janeiro | November 2013

Dear Friends,

About 80 people from different countries of the Americas, Asia and Europe were gathered last week in Curitiba to take stock of the impact of the 10 years of the legalization of transgenic crops in Brazil. At the end of the meeting participants proposed a series of alternatives and joint actions and came out with a expanded and strengthened network.

The general consensus of the analysis is that the promises that the adoption of transgenic crops would increase food supply, generate more productive plants and reduce the use of pesticides were not fulfilled. On the contrary, during the period of expansion of genetically modified (GM) crops the number of undernourished and malnourished people has increased in the world, as well as raised the use of pesticides. And new traits which would be opened by varieties were limited to herbicides resistant plants and plants that produce their own insecticide (Bt). From the health point of view, it has already been proven that those Bt toxins can reach the human bloodstream and also accelerate the development of tumors. At the farm level, the large adoption of Bt plants plus technology failures has led to the development of resistant pests and the emergence of new pest insects, as can be seen today in the cotton plantations billionaire injury in Bahia state, Brazil.

The main herbicide used transgenic crops, glyphosate/Roundup, is classified as being of low toxicity, but studies show that the product blocks the mechanisms of DNA repair and cell cycle of embryonic development and induces teratogenic action during the development of invertebrates. The poison still increases the chance of miscarriage. In the Chaco region of Argentina, for example, intensive production of GM soybeans increased by 400% in the last 10 years the cases of neonatal malformations.

The food crisis triggered in recent years feeds a “discourse of scarcity”, which, it is claimed, could only be alleviated by the expansion of industrial agriculture. The fact is used by the sector to justify the need for more and more crop areas, expansion of border, change of the forest code legislation and so on. The need for more food cannot be automatically associated with the need for increased production, as shows the alarming rates of food waste recently announced. But this argument is associated with the growth of the human population and the role that countries like Brazil, Argentina and others meet in supplying China with raw materials, including soybeans, taking those savings to a stage of ” reprimarization “.

The advance of this technique is pulled not by development of its scientific basis, but rather by the needs and possibilities that the own technique features or more specifically, by the needs placed by the market. Today, millions of acres in Brazil are covered by transgenic seeds and it is increasingly difficult to find GM free corn-based product in a supermarket, yet, very little is known about what actually these genetic modifications result in the plant and even less about how to control the effects of this genetic scrambling. The situation is aggravated by the fact that experts pushing the GM technology are in regulation bodies. Not by chance CTNBio has just refuse to hold a public hearing to discuss the effects of the release of GM soybeans and corn resistant to 2,4-D herbicide, product known to be carcinogenic. In fact, this product is on the agenda precisely because Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybean no longer works as before and left behind an increasing number of superweeds. In the wake of 2,4-D come other plants for use with Dicamba, ammonium glufosinate, imidazolinones and others.

In addition to promoting the sale of pesticides for soybeans, corn and cotton, industry is also seeking to modify other species, such as sugar cane, sorghum, eucalyptus, orange and also mosquitoes. New techniques are presented, as synthetic biology, which manufactures its own components of the DNA to manipulate, but follows clear from any form of risk assessment or regulation. On the other hand, grows the consciousness that is not only necessary, but also possible, to support other ways to produce healthier foods that do not destroy the environment. The latest example comes from the publication of the National Plan of Agroecology and Organic Production, released on October 17 by President Dilma and several of her ministers. Now, the challenge is to put it in practice and make their proposals happen throughout the country. If that happens, in 10 years we can take stock with very different results from that done for this decade with investments in GM crops.

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by Grupo de Estudos em Agrobiodiversidade – GEA

Monsanto’s NK603 corn safety meets no consensus in Brazil

Official body rejects French study but decision was reached by vote, researchers complain

BRASÍLIA, May 20th 2013 | On September 2012, another study associating the consumption of genetically modified crops with health risks appeared on the scientific literature. Food and Chemical Toxicology published a study headed by Gilles-Eric Séralini, from the French University of Caen, showing that rats fed GM maize NK603 tolerant to glyphosate herbicides (brand name Roundup Ready 2 in Brazil, resistant to Roundup), as well as rats exposed to Roundup itself, showed higher propensity to develop tumours. The authors thus concluded that “All treatments in both sexes enhanced large tumor incidence by 2–3-fold in comparison to our controls but also for the number of mammary tumors in comparison to the same Harlan Sprague Dawley strain”.

The study provoked furore among official biosafety bodies. Besides demonstrating serious problems caused by a product already on markets, it highlighted major flaws on the risk assessment criteria used by regulators. The first biggest tumours, for instance, appeared on the 4th and 7th months of the study, on males and females, respectively, being that regulators never asks for tests longer than 3 months.

It was no different in Brazil. The Foreign Affair Ministry (MRE) asked CTNBio – National Biosafety Commission information on the issue. It’s president informed that had nominated an extraordinary committee to contest MRE demand. The document produced is signed by four experts and repeats critics already answered by Séralini and colleagues in several interviews and on a letter to editors published by the same Food and Chemical Toxicology.

CTNBio’s president paper was only discussed by its other members last April. After a hot debate, four members voted against it, stating that, since the way rapporteurs were chosen, the document failed to consider contradictory views that emerged inside the Commission. Fourteen members were in favour of the document, although one know that science is not made on a vote base.

It was also judged in the same occasion a request presented by the National Consumers Forum (FNEDC) demanding CTNBio to reassess the decision which released NK603 for commercial growing in the country and also asked the suspension of all seed containing this GM event. Also by a 14 x 4 score the Commission refused both consumers petition.

A third debate still on NK603 took place. Fourteen members and former CTNBio members presented a document citing studies in support to the French group and their data and contesting the critiques they received. The document also mentions distinct levels of rigour which could be understood as a double pattern, since a great deal of the criticism to the original study would perfectly fit the data submitted to CTNBio by the company that developed NK603. Experts say they would welcome if the same rigorous standards were applied to all applications examined by CTNBio. Unless only studies showing negative impacts of GMs should be reviewed with such careful. Again a 14 x 4 score ended the debate.

The refusal to repeat a study correcting its methodological fails is a symptom of the prevalence of a belief that overcomes the own scientific method, sounding more like a desire to support the technology that ends disregarding the opportunity to better understand the risks posed by GM crops.

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Click here to get the full document (pdf 128 kb)

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Media contacts:

Paulo Kageyama (English) – [email protected]

Antonio Andrioli (German) – [email protected]

Gilles Ferment (French) – [email protected]

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Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Oakland US | 19 March 2013

Civil society groups from South Africa, Latin America- especially Brazil, Argentina- and the United States are deeply disturbed by the recent decision by the South African GMO authorities to grant approval for the import into South Africa, of Dow’s genetically engineered (GE) soybean variety (DAS-44406-6). This variety is genetically engineered to resist liberal applications of the toxic chemicals 2,4-D, glufosinate and glyphosate. Such an approval is calculated to add weight to Dow’s applications for approvals of this GE variety for commercial growing especially in Brazil, Argentina, and the US.

“We condemn the decision by the South African authorities. Once again, economic interests are riding roughshod over our government’s stewardship role to protect the health of our citizens and environment. The decision to approve this GE soybean variety is all the more galling in light of a current motion by the African Christian Democratic Party before the South African Parliament, to overturn a previous decision to allow imports of Dow’s 2,4-D tolerant GE maize into South Africa.” said Mariam Mayet of the African Centre for Biosafety. This GM maize has been dubbed “agent orange” maize by the media, owing to the use of 2,4 D as an ingredient in the infamous chemical, Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War to devastating effects.

According to the groups, this approval sets a dangerous precedent, and also makes a mockery of claims by the biotech industry that GE crops result in lower pesticide use. GE herbicide resistant (HR) soybeans currently account for nearly 50% of the global area planted with GE crops. “The introduction of GE herbicide resistant soybeans in the United States, Argentina and Brazil has resulted in a massive increase in pesticide use, predominantly glyphosate,” explained Carlos Vicente from the international organisation GRAIN. In the United States, HR soya cultivation resulted in an additional 167 million kg of glyphosate use between 1996 and 2011.ⁱ Between 1996 and 2011 the amount of glyphosate used in Argentina increased 11 fold, to 237 million litres. The volume of pesticides sold in Brazil increased by 360% between 2000 and 2009.ⁱⁱ

A similarly dramatic surge in pesticide use is expected in the Americas, but with even more severe impacts on rural communities’ health. Independent analysis from the United States has projected that widespread planting of 2,4-D corn—if approved—could trigger as much as a 25-fold increase in that country’s use of 2,4-D on corn, from 2 million kgs at present to over 45 million kgs annually by 2019.ⁱⁱⁱ

“Any increase in the use of 2,4-D in association with Dow’s 2,4-D resistant corn will hit rural communities especially hard, as numerous medical studies have linked 2,4-D and related herbicides to increased rates of cancer and Parkinson’s disease as well as low sperm counts in farmers, and to birth anomalies in their children,” said Dr. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, Senior Scientist with Pesticide Action Network North America. “Farmworkers and other rural residents will also be at risk. 2,4-D has been shown to cause liver and nerve damage, as well as hormonal disruption and is classified by the World Health Organisation as possibly carcinogenic,” she added.

2,4-D is banned completely in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. In Canada several provinces have restricted 2,4-D’s use. Glufosinate has been found to negatively affect the cardiovascular, nervous and reproductive systems in rodents and mammals.

Carlos Vicente from GRAIN in Argentina added that “the severe risks to human and animal health and the environment posed by glyphosate are well documented. A human tragedy is unfolding in Argentina due to the introduction of glyphosate tolerant soya there. Peasant farmers have been forced off their lands into large urban slums, and those left behind have experienced dramatic increases in cancers, spontaneous abortions and birth defects.”

“The biotech industry promised a reduction in pesticide use, but their products have simply led to increased reliance on older and more toxic pesticides to control the “superweeds” created by the use of RoundUp Ready GM seeds in the first place,” noted Gabriel Fernandes of the Brazilian organisation, AS-PTA. “The reality is that herbicide-resistant seeds are the growth engine of the pesticide industry’s sales and marketing strategy. These seeds are part of a technology package explicitly designed to facilitate increased use of and dependence on the companies’ own proprietary herbicides.”

Critics add that 2,4-D is a volatile herbicide prone to drift beyond the field of application to damage neighboring crops and wild plants, with potentially devastating consequences for biodiversity. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Marine Fisheries Service found that 2,4-D is likely already having adverse impacts on several endangered species in that country, including the California red-legged frog, the Alameda whipsnake, and Pacific salmon, via impacts on their habitats and prey.^iv

Such is the urgency of the situation that civil society groups from three regions have felt compelled to approach the United Nations High commissioner on Human Rights and the Secretariat to the UN Convention on Biodiversity for urgent intervention.

Press Release from: AFRICAN CENTRE FOR BIOSAFETY, GRAIN, PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK, AS-PTA, TERRA DE DIREITOS; GM FREE LATIN AMERICA

Letters submitted:

Letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights www.acbio.org.za

Letter to General Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity www.acbio.org.za

Media Contacts:

Mariam Mayet + 27 83 269 4309

[email protected]

Carlos Vicente, GRAIN, Argentina [email protected].

Gabriel Fernandes, AS-PTA, Brazil, [email protected]

Elizabeth Bravo, RALLT, Ecuador, [email protected]

Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, PANNA, United States, [email protected]

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NGOs demand re-assessment of GM maize questioned in recent French study

Civil society organizations have issued an official letter to Brazil’s federal government questioning the commercial release of the genetically modified maize NK603. Their request for reassessment of the release has been sent to various ministers and representatives of bodies linked to the area with the aim of suspending use of this technology until independent research confirms its dietary and nutritional safety. Social movements, civil organizations, scientific bodies and rights-based NGOs were among the entities signing the document.

The National Biosafety Technical Commission (CTNBio) approved the commercial release of the genetically modified maize NK603 in 2008, a glyphosate tolerant variety (Roundup Ready) owned by Monsanto, today grown throughout Brazil. The movements argue that, as is common practice with commercial releases of GMOs in Brazil, the research on which authorization was based involved short-term studies made by the applying company itself. Another five stacked varieties of GM maize include the NK603 event in their composition.

New scientific data on the adverse effects of NK603 was published in September by the renowned science journal Food and Chemical Toxicology. Researchers from Caen University in France found evidence of metabolic alterations caused by the consumption of GM maize, whether or not combined with the use of the Roundup herbicide. The study is considered unique because of its inclusion of more than 100 parameters over a 2-year period using 200 laboratory rats. The results revealed a higher and more frequent mortality rate when both these products were consumed, as well as non-linear hormonal effects related to sex. Females developed numerous large mammary tumours, as well as hypophyseal and kidney problems. Most of the males died from chronic hepatorenal deficiencies.

The study’s authors proposed that the GMOs concerned should be very carefully evaluated by long-term studies to measure their potential toxic effects. Brazil’s National Biosafety Law allows reassessment of technical decisions based on new scientific facts or knowledge relevant to biosafety. In addition the National Biosafety Council (CBNS), composed by 11 ministers, can also ban the use of particular products based on the national interest.

The civil society organizations producing the document emphasized the urgent need to reassess the commercial releases linked to NK603 maize and argued that, in the meantime, any authorizations based on these technical reports should be suspended. The objective is to ban the planting, use and sale of this kind of seed, given the risk posed by these crops to Brazil’s population. The NGOs argue that it is unacceptable for research with a bearing on the population’s health to be conducted only by the companies applying for commercial release of GMOs, whose interests merely reflect the profits accrued by these transnationals. They are therefore calling for studies by independent researchers unconnected to the economic interests of these companies. In their official letter they also demand that IBAMA and ANVISA, state agencies responsible for registration and control in the area, also make a formal request for the technical reports for NK603 maize to be reassessed and for the ministers on the CNBS to adopt a clear stance on the issue.

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The letter is signed by:

AS-PTA Agricultura Familiar e Agroecologia

Articulação Nacional de Agroecologia – ANA

Articulação do Semiárido Brasileiro – ASA Brasil

Associação Brasileira de Agroecologia – ABA

Associação Biodinâmica – ABD

Associação Brasileira dos Membros do Ministério Público de Meio Ambiente –

ABRAMPA

Associação dos Professores de Direito Ambiental do Brasil – APRODAB

Associação Nacional dos Procuradores da República – ANPR

Campanha Permanente Contra os Agrotóxicos e Pela Vida

Centro de Agricultura Alternativa – Norte de Minas

Comissão de Bioética e Biodireito da Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil no Rio de

Janeiro – OAB/RJ.

Comissão Pastoral da Terra Regional Rio Grande do Sul – CPT/RSConselho Indigenista Missionário – CIMI

Conselho Federal de Nutricionistas – CFN

Cooperativa dos Agricultores Familiares e Agroextrativistas Grande Sertão – CGS

Coordenação Nacional das Comunidades Negras Rurais Quilombola – CONAQ

Fórum Nacional das Entidades Civis de Defesa do Consumidor – FNECDC

Grupo de Estudos em Agrobiodiversidade – GEA

Instituto de Estudos de Direito e Cidadania – IEDC

Instituto Nacional de Defesa do Consumidor – IDEC

Instituto “O Direito por um Planeta Verde” – IDPV

Movimento Ciência Cidadã

Movimento das Mulheres Camponesas – MMC

Movimento dos Pequenos Agricultores – MPA

Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra – MST

Núcleo de Cultura e Extensão – PTECA da Escola Superior de Agricultura da

Universidade de São Paulo – ESALQ/USP (NACE-PTECA/ESALQ/USP)

Núcleo de Saúde Coletiva da Universidade Federal do Paraná – UFPR

Plataforma de Direitos Humanos Econômicos, Sociais, Culturais e Ambientais –

Plataforma Dhesca Brasil

Rede Puxirão dos Povos e Comunidades Tradicionais

Relatoria do Direito Humano à Terra, Território e Alimentação da Plataforma

Dhesca Brasil

Terra de Direitos

Via Campesina Brasil

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Update from the GM-Free Brazil Campaign

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Brazil | Rio de Janeiro | August 2012

Transgenic crops push up pesticide sales

Use of pesticides in Brazil has risen significantly precisely over the period when the cultivation of transgenic crops has exploded, informs the leading Brazilian newspaper Valor Econômico in a report published on July 31st. Since 2005, the year that the Biosafety Law was approved (11.105/05), the area planted with genetically modified seeds has more than tripled in Brazil, rising from 9.4 million to 32 million hectares. Between 2005 and 2011, average pesticide consumption has jumped from a little of 7 kilos per hectare to 10.1, a 43.2% increase. According to data from Sindag, the union representing pesticide manufacturers cited in the report, sales of these products grew more than 72% between 2006 and 2012, from 480,100 to 826,700 tons. This rise in the use of pesticides cannot be explained by the expansion in total cultivated area since this rose by less than 19% over the same time according to the National Supply Company (CONAB), whose data includes cereals, fibres, coffee and sugar cane.

Eighty-five per cent of the transgenics released by CTNBio (National Biosafety Technical Commission), among them soybeans, maize and cotton, are modified for resistance to herbicides, whose sales reached 403,600 tons, an increase of 44% in relation to the 279,200 tons recorded in 2006. Sales of fungicides tripled while those of insecticides rose by almost 84%, the Valor report adds.

“Plantations of transgenic soybean – a crop that alone consumes 48% of all pesticides used in the country – make more intensive use of pesticides than those that have not adopted the technology. In Paraná state [in the South of Brazil], for example, the crops using the Roundup Ready (RR) technology of Monsanto, consume 3.6 kilos of pesticides per hectare on average, 16.2% higher than the 3.1 kilos consumed with conventional crops. The advantage for the producer lies in the reduced management levels: in RR plantations several herbicides are replaced by a single product, glyphosate, applied in larger doses.” This wider use of glyphosate has accelerated the development of resistant weeds, which lead the producer to use more toxic products to control them. Also in Paraná, the State Agriculture Department recorded an 85% increase in the use of Gramoxone (Paraquat) between 2005 and 2007 and a 52% increase in the use of 2,4-D. It is worth recalling that transgenic soybean was already grown illegally in Brazil prior to this period before being authorized in 2003 through a provisional legal measure. “In all events, the benefits of biotechnology in relation to the use of pesticides in plantations are still marginal,” concludes the reporter Gerson Freitas Jr. In other words, the real benefit goes to the company selling the pesticide.

The data is important, but is also fairly unsurprising given that it is common knowledge that these seeds were developed to promote the sale of pesticides and justify seed patenting. The promises made by the industry since the 1990s, echoed loudly in the press, have obscured the actual results of the technology for a long time. Since covering up these poor results has become increasingly difficult, it seems a new wave of hot air is needed.

The representative from the consultancy firm Céleres cited in the report claims that “there is no contradiction in the increase of sales in pesticides or agrochemicals.” He argues that previously very few pesticides were used. “Had it not been for biotechnology, this growth would have been even higher,” he assured. Meanwhile the interviewee from Sindag said that Brazil had previously experienced “an underdose problem.” The representative from Abrasem (Brazilian Seed and Seedling Association) attributed some of the increase to the arrival of soybean rust.

“Céleres predicts, though, that the gains will be more noticeable in the next decade with the consolidation of the technology and the arrival of new varieties in the country, such as insect-resistant soybean.” Don’t hold your breath.

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GM-FREE BRAZIL – Published by AS-PTA Agricultura Familiar e Agroecologia. 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 das Palmeiras, 90 | CEP: 22.270-070, 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://aspta.org.br/itens-de-campanha/gm-free-brazil/

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O post Transgenic crops push up pesticide sales apareceu primeiro em AS-PTA.

Update from the GM-Free Brazil Campaign

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Brazil | Rio de Janeiro | July 2012

Advertising is the soul of the business. The transgene industry knows it and drives the old adage into the ground. The latest path to redemption, in Brazil, answers to the name of transgenic mosquitos.

Before the method’s efficacy was even tested, these novel mosquitoes took to national and international news programs. A new mosquito plant was inaugurated with pomp and circumstance, before no less than the Minister of Health and the governor of Bahia, both surrounded by entourages of other authorities. The plant cost nearly a million dollars and is run by Moscamed, an NGO-type outfit connected to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Bahia State government. Only a party-pooper could think of bursting their bubble with questions about how risky millions of transgenic mosquitos might be, released since 2011 into populous neighborhoods of the city of Juazeiro, Bahia.

The “dominant lethal” technique developed by British biotech company Oxitec, in theory, mates laboratory-bred modified males with wild female mosquitos, and thereby transmits the males’ transgenic sterility gene to the larvae offspring, which will also be sterile, as long as the larvae are not in contact with the antibiotic tetracycline.

Yet doubts also hover in the air. Do all the offspring of female mosquitoes mating with modified males actually die? Oxitec does admit a 3% survival rate. What happens to the survivors, considering that test areas are inhabited by people? The partial report on field trials presented to the National Biosafety Commission (CTNBio) last November, to which AS-PTA gained access, says nothing to this concern. It states simply that “the transgene construct is designed so the transgene will not stabilize in the environment under any hypothesis.”

The labs produce both males and females and, supposedly, only males are released into the environment. What are the chances of modified females also being released? Is the separation method 100% effective?

What are the ecological impacts of reducing the population of Aedes aegypti, which also transmits yellow fever? Can other vectors occupy their niche? Might a more effective strategy involve replacing the mosquito, in order to avoid an ecological void?

In the presence of the antibiotic tetracycline, transgenic larvae survive. Studies have shown that some of this chemical is found in mud and in urban wetlands. Might there be enough there to stop the transgene that suppresses the larvae? The report mentions that the neighborhoods where trials took place have precarious sewage treatment.

What impact has been observed in the field following suppression of the larvae? What is the rate of reduction of the presence of mosquitoes? How does this correlate with disease rates in the area?

Was the local population told about potential risks of the technology or only about the project’s potential benefits, through jingles and promotional inserts on local radio and TV stations? Were they at least told that a transgenic insect was being used?

The 17-page report offers no conclusions at all and much less answers to these questions, in a total black-out for the party poopers. Meanwhile, the “winged transgenics of the backlands” – as they were dubbed on a recent front page of the O Globo newspaper – are in the air. Transgenic promises may fly in all directions, but who knows where the real impacts will come down? By then, though, the fanfare will be heralding next month’s wonders.

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GM-FREE BRAZIL – Published by AS-PTA Agricultura Familiar e Agroecologia. 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 das Palmeiras, 90 | CEP: 22.270-070, 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://aspta.org.br/itens-de-campanha/gm-free-brazil/

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