Organizations denounce lack of transparency in discussions on transgenic wheat imports

Environmental, agricultural, and consumer protection organizations sent a letter to public agencies last June 8 denouncing the government’s lack of transparency regarding the discussion about permitting transgenic wheat to be imported from Argentina.

CNTBio (the national technical biosafety commission), linked to the Ministry of Science, was supposed to decide on November 10th whether or not it would import the wheat but postponed its request for additional information from Bioceres, the company that created the genetically modified wheat.

The next analysis is scheduled for August 5th.

The chart below shows a history of Brazilian imports of Argentine wheat since 2017:

Brazilian Wheat Imports from Argentina | Jan 2017 to Apr 2021 | WTMT

Graph source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Transgenic wheat is called HB4 and is resistant to drought and the pesticide glufosinate-ammonium, an herbicide considered “medium toxic” by ANVISA (the national health surveillance agency). In wheat fields, it can serve as a desiccant to accelerate the harvest.

If approved, the Brazilian company Tropical Melhoramento Genetico (TMG) will import the transgenic wheat. G1 contacted the Ministry of Science for more information but has not yet received a response until the writing of this article.

Source: G1

To read the full original article, access the link below:

https://g1.globo.com/economia/agronegocios/noticia/2021/06/10/organizacoes-denunciam-falta-de-transparencia-em-decisao-sobre-importacao-de-trigo-transgenico.ghtml

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