Brazil’s Congress has passed a controversial bill giving licensing power over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to a pro-GMO technical body. The legislation opens the door permanently to transgenic farming in Brazil by allowing the sale of gene-altered seeds. Many in the legislative and executive branches objected to the measure because it runs counter to an earlier version of the bill, proposed by the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, that would have put final licensing decisions in the hands of the Environment Ministry and two other ministries. But this month the amended bill won final approval by a wide margin in the lower house of Congress, and the president is expected to meet a 45-day deadline for signing it. The... [Log in to read more]