Biosafety Patrol in action!!
After a longer wait than expected, it was finally time to go! We left Porto Alegre last Tuesday, April 13th, and arrived here in Rio Grande on Wednesday morning. Since then we've waited for the right moment to do the inspection in the Saturn V, ship that could be loaded with GMO soya.
Our activists left the Arctic Sunrise around 12 PM, a few moments after we got the confirmation that the ship was in the port and had started loading the shipment. About 30 minutes were enough for our team arrive at the destiny and discover: the Saturn V doesn't have any documentation about the GMO soya that was being loaded, they were "caught in the act" of violating the Brazilian legislation and the international laws.
Consumers have the right to know what they're eating as well as the companies have the obligation to inform properly the composition of their products. Brazilian laws demand that not only the end product must be labelled if it has GMOs in its composition, but also demand that every stage of the production must be properly identified, since the plantation. The Biosafety Protocol of Cartagena, international treaty ratified by Brazil and other 90 countries, demands the properly identification and documentation of every GMO shipment that is transported between the countries.
The challenge of the activists at the Saturn V took a bit more than an hour. So much conversation, negotiation and explanations with the captain and his crew about the implications of the cargo, the legal and the environmental problems etc. Before leaving the ship, the activists labelled it, as its documentation should do: "transgenico" (Genetic Modified Organism, in Portuguese).
Beyond the environmental and the human health discussion about the GMOs, it seems to me that it's a very stupid attitude of the Brazilian Government to allow the commercialisation of them as most of the world is going to reject them, particularly in Europe and China. Also seems insane that some Brazilian companies continue to sell GMO and don't agree to adopt any kind of control against them. Well, maybe it's just an issue about the international companies that have the patents of these things - if they are not already charging Brazilian farmers millions of dollars in royalties, are going to do it very soon.
Kishi, Brazilian webeditor, Arctic Sunrise, BRAZIL
