With Brazil’s new law on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) now enacted, regulators here are wasting no time approving pending requests by companies interested in selling gene-altered seeds for commercial cultivation. Even before President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed the new legislation on transgenics last month, the government body in charge of reviewing such applications approved the sale and commercial planting of Monsanto’s Bollgard-brand cotton, which is genetically altered to produce its own pesticide. Cotton thus became the second transgenic crop cleared for cultivation in Brazil. Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soy, bioengineered to tolerate herbicide, already had been approved for use here on a temporary basis and got the definitive green light with the signing of the transgenics law. Approvals for more genetically modified... [Log in to read more]