EATING UP THE AMAZON 1

EATING UP
THE AMAZON
55
ANNEX TWO
– A SHORT HISTORY OF GM SOYA,
BRAZIL AND THE EUROPEAN MARKET
GM soya was first exported to Europe from the US in 1996.
The technology was introduced by the agriculture and
chemical giant Monsanto as a response to the end of its
patent on its best selling product, the glyphosate-based
herbicide Roundup. Monsanto’s seeds were genetically
modified to survive large doses of Roundup. If you bought
the seeds, you had to buy the chemicals. The technology
ensured a continued market for Roundup.
Between 1996 and 1999, Monsanto’s GM soya spread
rapidly across the USA and Argentina. The reasons
for this rapid adoption were mainly based on the false
promise of higher yields from the GM soya, Monsanto
dropping the price of Roundup, and Monsanto increasing
its control of the global seed market. GM varieties
were readily available and farmers were left with fewer
conventional (GM free) seed options.
By 1999, European companies started to specifically
demand GM free soya from their suppliers in large
volumes in response to demands from European
consumers and food producers.
As a result of legal action by Greenpeace and a Brazilian
consumers organisation (IDEC), which required
the Brazilian Government to carry out a proper
environmental impact assessment (EIA) before the
legal introduction of GM crops, Brazil became the main
supplier of GM free soya on the international market.
Many EU buyers simply switched to buying Brazilian soya on
the understanding that it was GM free. And, of course, there
is actually zero market demand for GM soya – ie no buyer
actually demands GM soya.
Today demand for GM free soya exists not just
internationally but also from within Brazil itself. Large
poultry exporters use high volumes of soya and many
domestic food producers guarantee GM free products to
Brazilian consumers.
In recent years, there has been evidence of GM soya being
grown illegally in the southern Brazil state of Río Grande do
Sul using black market seeds that had been smuggled into
the country from Argentina.
The Brazilian Government has not acted responsibly. In
2003, it had effectively legalised the illegal planting of
GM soya without conducting the proper environmental
impact assessments, thus opening the door to increased
contamination and environmental damage.
The government is now involved with Monsanto to
produce versions of GM soya adapted to the Amazon and
other regions of Brazil. The introduction of GM soya will
certainly fuel the destruction of the Amazon due to the ‘kill
everything green’ concept of using high doses of herbicides
in cultivating GM soya.
The European food industry needs to develop responsible
animal feed supplies in order to eliminate pressure on
the world’s ancient forests and climate. This will include
policies to source their products from more local,
sustainable sources.