You can add another to the list of countries refusing to accept genetically-modified crops: Brazil. In a recent move, Brazil has announced that it will no longer accept any American-grown GM crops. As more nations impose trade regulations on genetically modified foods, Monsanto and others will eventually have to feel the pain we as consumers feel at not being able to readily avoid GMOs.
As Bloomberg notes, “In recent years, some of the largest commodity trading companies have refused to take certain GMO crops from farmers because the seeds used hadn’t received a full array of global approvals, something that can lead to holdups at ports or even the rejection of entire cargoes.”
In this instance, it is Brazil’s chicken farmers who won’t feed their birds American GM corn. Ironically enough, Brazil is the second-largest producer of GM crops in the world (following the United States), and, as a result, this is likely a matter of pulling rank, but that doesn't mean resistance to GM crops across the world isn't growing.
Female members of the Landless Worker’s Movement (MST) recently broke into a São Paulo State lab and destroyed millions of samples of GM prototypes not long ago that contained a carcinogenic pesticide, and as we all know, there are many good reasons for banning GM crops.
Fortunately, Brazil’s farmers join a growing, international resistance against cultivating GM seed. Russia recentlybanned all U.S. corn and soy imports due to possible GM contamination. Nineteen additional countries in the E.U. also banned all GM crops, and dozens more have banned GM crops for import or growth in their country.