Thirty-eight GM crop events are currently approved for commercial use in Brazil, where their intrinsic characteristics include herbicide, insect and virus resistance.The Brazilian Biosafety Law establishes guidelines for the safe use of genetic engineering technologies in research and product development for the market.The Law created a structure with collegiate and governmental agencies for the establishment of biosafety guidelines, risk assessment and official inspections.It created the National Biosafety Council (CNBS) and restructured the National Biosafety Technical Commission (CTNBio).The CTNBio is responsible for establishing the biosafety guidelines and to issue the Biosafety Quality Certificate (CQB) for all institutions working with GMO.The Brazilian Biosafety Law considers an infringement of the legislation any action or omission that violates the norms provided by it.Many sanctions can be applied where the Registration and Inspection agencies (OERF) define criteria, fine amounts and collect it for the federal government.Other important Brazilian legislation regarding GMO use in Brazil is the Law n° 8 078 which establishes the right to information for all consumers in the country.Through this Law, Brazilian Ministry of Justice defined a labeling system whereby foods and food ingredients for human consumption or animal feed containing or produced with more than 1% GMO must contain information on its label and a symbol (a yellow triangle with a T in the middle) indicating it.It is undeniable that there was a rapid increase in the utilization of genetic engineering technologies in the Brazilian agriculture after the new Biosafety Law.The unification of laws, rules and guidelines by all agencies involved in the Biosafety legislation framework allowed, undoubtedly, the rescue of the confidence by investors, researchers, private/ public institutions and by all other stakeholders involved in the Brazilian agribusiness.
transgenic biosafety law CTNBio registration and inspection agencies biosafety policy biosafety quality certificate
Alexandre Lima Nepomuceno Mauricio Antonio Lopes Flavio Finardi-Filho Marcus Vinicius Segurado Coelho Renata Fuganti-Pagliarini
Embrapa Soybean, Carlos Jo(a)o Strass Road, Warta-PR, Brazil Embrapa Headquarter.Parque Estaa(a)o Biol-gica s/n, PqEB, W3 Norte-Asa Norte, Brasilia-DE Brazil Pharm., S(a)o Paulo University, Cubat(a)ostreet, 86, cj.909.Vila Mariana.S(a)o Paulo-SP, Brazil Mapa-Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply.Esplanada dos Ministérios-Bloco D-Brasilia/D