Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 4 • Number 23 • 20th December 2004
GMO UPDATE: MEXICO, ZAMBIA, ARGENTINA
GMO UPDATE: MEXICO, ZAMBIA, ARGENTINA
Mexico Approves New GM Law
On 16 December the lower house of the Mexican Congress approved a new genetically modified organisms (GMO) law that aims to create a regulatory process to fully evaluate possible risks posed by GMOs to human health and the environment. The legislation was approved by the Senate in April 2003 (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 1 May 2003) and will allow the limited release of GM crops, requiring GM seeds to be declared risk-free before they are released for human consumption or commercial planting. The legislation will also require GM products to be labelled. However, the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution and environmental groups such as Greenpeace attacked the law, saying that it would endanger corn diversity in Mexico, the "centre of origin" of the grain. Greenpeace has called the legislation "the Monsanto Law", insisting that it protects the economic interests of the multinational producer of GM crops. The passing of the law comes only two weeks after the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), an environmental organisation created shortly after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), released a controversial report calling for restrictions on GM imports to Mexico to safeguard the biodiversity of corn (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 19 November 2004). This concern was addressed by Mexican legislators in an amendment that aimed to prevent GM corn from being released in centres of origin of corn such as Oaxaca, Veracruz and Yucatan.
Zambia drafts biosafety legislation
The Zambian government has drafted new legislation to implement the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and plans to submit it to parliament between January and March next year for approval. "The legislation, which will help us regulate and monitor GMOs, will also establish the National Biosafety Authority," said Paul Zambezi, permanent secretary for the Zambian Ministry of science, technology and vocational training. The proposed legislation is part of the country’s five-year National Biosafety and Biotechnology Strategy Plan to initiate biosafety research and biodiversity protection. According to Felix Mwangala of the National Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research, the legislation will enable the government to penalise organisations and companies that do not meet biosafety requirements. "Our intention is to make Zambia GMO-free, but we have not got there yet," Zambezi said. In 2002, Zambia rejected GM food aid despite food shortages because of concerns that accepting the food donation of whole-grain maize might threaten its beef exports to the EU (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 27 June 2002).
Argentina, Monsanto to create "technology compensation fund"
On 14 December the government of Argentina and biotechnology firms agreed on the key elements of a "technology compensation fund" to compensate companies such as Monsanto for the illegal use of their GM seeds. The government aims to send a bill to Congress within 30 days that will allow for compensation for all types of GM seeds used in the 2005/2006 growing season. Monsanto has been the main driver behind the agreement in the hopes of avoiding in the future previous losses of millions of dollars in revenue from farmers that sowed its GM Roundup Ready (RR) soybean seeds without paying royalties (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 23 September 2004). Under the proposed agreement, there will be an extra charge on GM soybeans that will be applied at the moment the commodity changes hands in Argentine markets and will not be a tax on production.
In January 2004 Monsanto stopped selling RR soybean seeds in Argentina, saying that the black market for the seeds makes it impossible for the company to earn back its investments. This led to fears that Argentina might lose out on biotech advances and new seed varieties and that farmers who would have wanted to buy the seeds legally might instead not plant them at all, resulting in lost productivity, or buy them on the black market. In late September 2004 Monsanto suggested the government of Argentina create a royalty collection system in which farmers purchasing new seed would be required to sign a sworn statement testifying to how much seed they were saving for the next season, and to re-pay for that seed a fixed amount of, reportedly, US$1.50 for every 25 kilos exported from Argentina, a proposal that the Argentinean government and many farmers said they were unwilling to accept. Under a 1973 Argentinean seed law intended to protect small producers, an exemption exists which recognises the right of farmers to cull seeds for replanting in the case of self-fertilizing plants like soy or wheat. The new law would have to supersede the 1973 one and would thus be likely to draw the anger of Argentinean farmers.
The Argentinean seed business is worth approximately US $1 billion a year and Monsanto says that 18 percent of the 14 million hectares of soybean crops in Argentina are seeded with certified seeds and sold in the legal market.
ICTSD Reporting: "Mexican Lawmakers Approve Controversial GM Law", REUTERS, 16 December 2004; "Govt drafts biosafety legislation," ALLAFRICA.COM, 14 December 2004; "Monsanto exits Argentina soy despite soy boom," REUTERS, 18 January 2004; "Reports: Argentina Rejects Monsanto business plan," ST. LOUIS BUSINESS JOURNAL, 20 September 2004; " Monsanto Fights With Farmers in Argentina Over Seed Saving," INTER PRESS SERVICE, 10 February 2004; "Argentina and biotech firms agree on royalty bid," REUTERS, 15 December 2004.