>This came to me via a friend, it is translated from the Brazilian...
>
>CORREIO BRAZILIENSE,
>(major daily newspaper in the brazil's Capital City Brasilia) 31/01/98:
>
>Investigation: Police closes circle around illegal cultivation of
>soybeans
>
>Porto Alegre - The Federal Police in Passo Fundo, in the interior of the
>state of Rio Grande do Sul, has proven the plantation of 1,5 hectare of
>transgenic soy in the municipality of Getulio Vargas, but has no
>confidence yet, that the farmer, who admitted his planting, has given
>complete facts. The illegal importation of the product worries the
>Brazilian authorities.
>
>It was extra-officially confirmed, that the region was going to receive
>a truckload of seeds, with the capacity of around 200 bags of soy,
>illegally brought in from Argentina, sufficient for planting at least,
>133,34 hectares.
>
>Other farmers in neighboring municipalities, like Carazinho, Cruz Alta
>and the same Passo Fundo, are being investigated by federal agents and
>by technicians of the Agriculture Ministry, after being denounced by the
>Brazilian Seed Association to the Secretary of Sanitary Defense, Mr.
>Enio Marques Pereira, in Brasilia.
>
>After collecting all the facts, the official of the Federal Police,
>Antonio Ruschel, will send a report to the Central Intelligence of the
>Federal Police in Brasilia, for being distributed also to the Ministries
>of Agriculture and Science & Technology, which will have to determine
>the types of action how to control and punish the illegally imported
>seeds.
>
>IDENTIFICATION
>
>The police even have documents with the names of the suppliers of the
>transgenic soy from Argentina. "One of them is a Argentinean seed
>subsidiary of Monsanto", explained Ruschel. On Monday, the official
>wants to question a seller to identify the principle suppliers, who are
>introducing in this state this seed illegally. The regional
>representative of the Agriculture Ministry in Porto Alegre, Clovis
>Schwertner, already informed the Secretary of Sanitary Defense in the
>Ministry about the investigations. From February on, the main specialist
>in transgenic seeds, the agronomist Jose Luis Mendes de Oliveira, will
>participate in the investigations.
>
>According to Brazilian legislation, foreign transgenic products
>(resulting from combinations of genes) can only be introduced in Brazil
>after a period of quarantine and the realization of exams to avoid
>damages in agriculture and Brazilian flora; which didn't happen in the
>region of Passo Fundo, according to Reschel. "Apart from that, we don't
>yet know the effects of transgenic soy on the human organism", he said.
>Ruschel observed that all soy exported from Brazil is not transgenic and
>for this is well accepted in Japan and Europe. There is the risk that
>importers don't accept the Brazilian product, in case they would know
>that it could have a transgenic part; which would be a economical
>disaster for the country.
>
>The Argentinean transgenic soy possesses "high resistance against the
>applied herbicides", Schwertner says. Ruschel admits that in order to
>combat natural enemies of soy the so-called herbicide Round Up - the
>agent orange - is used, which kills everything that is green. "The only
>one that escapes that is transgenic soy", he said. According to Embrapa
>this soy is the result of the insertion of a bacteria gen of the proper
>poison in the same herbicide. So far, the official will not indicate the
>farmer in Getulio Vargas and hasn't decided yet about opening a formal
>inquiry by the police against him.
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