GMOs and New GMOs in Latin America

 

The commercial release of transgenic the drought tolerant HB4 transgenic wheat has been approved in Argentina, which has generated strong opposition from social organizations in the area, after Australia and New Zealand approved it. There is a concern that this GM wheat will be spreading throughout the region, as already happened with RR soybean, occupying territories previously unfit for wheat cultivation, displacing crops intended for food sovereignty

Chile's constitutional convention proposes that the State guarantees the right of peasants, peasants and native peoples to the free use and exchange of traditional seeds. The State recognizes and supports peasant and indigenous agriculture, harvesting and artisanal fishing, among others, as fundamental activities for food production. There is a strong campaign against the approval of the new Constitution, the same one that will be voted by the citizens in a referendum.

Brasil: the Argentine company GDM, obtained the approval in Brazil of the first variety of genetically edited soybean seeds, so that it has fewer sugars (raffinose and stachyose), which alter digestion in monogastric organisms such as humans, birds and pigs. The National Technical Biosafety Commission (CTNBio), considered that gene editing is not a type of transgenesis, and therefore it was classified as GMO-free.

Paraguay: threats of forced eviction to indigenous families of the Mbya GuaranĂ­ People continue to favor the expansion of the foreign-owned soybean company.

Ecuador: A lawsuit continues pending in the Constitutional Court against a legal body that would legalize the entry of transgenic crops into a country declared GE Free, and that would also approve genetically edited crops and others developed with new molecular technologies, without going through any type of regulation.

PerĂº: The Government is still expected to issue a regulation to the moratorium approved by the National Congress in 2020.

Commercialization: World soybean production for this new cycle would increase by 13% compared to the 2021/22 campaign, going from 349.4 to 394.7 Mt, which reaffirms its tendency to concentrate and expand year after year in exporting countries. The Brazilian harvest, which is currently the most important, would reach 149 Mt, a figure that represents an increase of 19.2% compared to the previous cycle (125 Mt). For Argentina a growth of 21.4% is expected, thus achieving a production record of 51 Mt. Export activity would continue to be led by Brazil with 88.5 Mt, growing 6.9% compared to the previous campaign.

CTNBio on November 16, 2021, approving the A new GE eucalyptus developed by FuturaGene, owned by Suzano Papel e Celulose, for release into the environment, for commercial use and for any other related activities was approved by CTNBio in Brazil. There is a campaign to stop it https://redd-monitor.org/2022/06/13/open-letter-denouncing-suzano-papel-e-celuloses-glyphosate-resistant-genetically-engineered-ge-eucalyptus/

Information provided by Network for a GMO-Free Latin America (June 2022)

 

 

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