uruguay: victory as new gmo crops suspended!
As a result of campaigning by REDES/Friends of the Earth Uruguay, the Latin American Network on Pesticides and Alternatives, and the Organic Producers Association, the Uruguayan Government approved a decree to suspend the evaluation and approval of new genetically-modified crops in February 2007.
This decree also establishes the creation of a new inter-ministerial working group to design new biotechnology policies, and invites participation of interested groups from civil society, the private sector and academia.
In another step, the above-mentioned civil society organizations have decided to end their participation in the National Project on Biosafety (funded by the United National Development Programme). This is because of their concerns that the government was not providing them with the political arena they consider essential to an open debate about genetically modified organisms in Uruguayan society.
