Activists board ship in Brazil

Our Brazilian Greenpeace activists have inspected the Saturn V today in the port of Rio Grande, as the ship is suspected to be loaded with soya contaminated by genetically engineered (GE) soya developed by US agrochemical giant, Monsanto.

Commercial growing of Monsanto’s GE soya was illegal in Brazil until last year, when the Lula Government caved in to demands from Monsanto and farmers in Rio Grande do Sul who had been using Monsanto’s GE soya seeds smuggled across from Argentina. The first legal harvest of Monsanto’s GE soya is now coming in and is about to enter the food chain in Brazil and its export markets.

“Consumers from all over the world reject GE food, and we call for that opposition to be respected,” said Mariana Paoli, our campaigner on board the Arctic Sunrise. “Brazil is better without GE foods, but as we now have GE soya in Brazil, we need to ensure that the right to reject GE contamination is possible. GE contaminated soya must not be mixed with conventional soya, which could jeopardise Brazil’s status as the world’s largest non-GE soya exporter.”

New UN rules require the labelling of GE organisms in bulk shipments. Greenpeace Brazil has notified the Federal Government about the soya cargo, demanding the proper implementation of the national labelling rules and the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol.

As well as Europe other markets for Brazilian soya such as China and the Republic of Korea also require labelling. In China GE soya oil has to be labelled. In Korea, anyone found to falsely label producrs containing GMOsl face a three-year jail sentence or 30 million won fine.

“Greenpeace demands that Brazil implements strict labelling and traceability rules in order to guarantee the right to know and reject GE food in Brazil and to meet its international obligations,” said Paoli. “Allowing GE contamination of food and feed crops in Brazil is not only dangerous from an environmental point of view, but also endangers Brazilian exports.”

The Greenpeace ship Artic Sunrise and the Biosafety Inspection is part of the tour “Brazil melhor sem transgênicos” (Brazil is better without GE food crops). The tour has started in Rio Grande do Sul, which is the hot spot of GE contamination in Brazil. The tour aims to defend consumers’ and farmers’ rights to choose non-GE, and to expose the risk of GE soya.

Find out more

- Read our in-depth document: Hanging in the Balance: GE Battle in Brazil

- For more information about the implications of the new EU labelling and traceability rules read this

- Get involved in our Trolley Watch Click here to see how you can help.

- Check out what is happening in your country

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