In theory, commercial cultivation of genetically modified crops is prohibited in Brazil pending litigation of the matter in the country’s courts. But in practice, transgenics have gained a foothold here—especially in Brazil’s soy crop, the world’s second biggest behind that of the United States. Experts calculate transgenics now account for at least 4% of Brazil’s 49 million metric tons of soy, or about US$370 million of the crop’s total $8.2 billion value. That adds up to a dilemma for the government of new Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which found itself forced to address the issue this month as soy farmers were bringing in their latest harvest. The immediate question: what to do about the soy that dockside testing shows to... [Log in to read more]