Des alliances internationales pour préserver la production de soja non génétiquement modifié au Brésil : enjeux et perspectives

Following a long period of Brazilian government opposition to the use of transgenic soya, the cultivation of this latter has finally been authorized in Brazil. The consequences of this authorization may not be minor whereas it is well known that within the European Union, the principal export opportunity, numerous consumer associations and environmental movements are fighting the imports of all genetically modified soya. The article recounts the conditions in which some peasant organisations in Southern Brazil and european non governmental organisations are trying to establish export links for non transgenic soya to France. The overhead costs for the consumer, mainly incurred from ensuring tracers, remain low. However the global agro business companies are not doing nothing about this ; they are committed to the creation of a « responsible soya » label that would take into account the risks of deforestation linked to the inconsiderate extension of soya in the Amazon basin, but which would still involve GMOs. This appears to be a smart way of dividing civil society through mobilising a part of the environmentalists around the « responsible » label and of finally making GMO acceptable to the European public opinion.