Social resistance to biotechnology: attempts to create a Genetically Modified-free territory in Brazil

Abstract

This paper looks at the attempt to create a territory free of transgenic crops in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) Although the state government had legal grounds under federal law and court decisions that banned these crops in Brazil, resistance by groups representing local farmers managed to disseminate the planting of transgenic soybeans in the state. The reasons for the government's failure have to do with the absence of an inter-institutional apparatus able to manage a number of economic, social, environmental, geographic and technical-scientific factors, as well as the lack of a social movement capable of assuring the legitimacy of decisions made by the state government in this area.