Brazil's crop research agency Embrapa has developed a new genetically modified soyabean, which if approved for sale could end Monsanto's monopoly in the country, scientists said on Wednesday.
The new GMO soyabean works in a similar way to Roundup Ready (RR) Soybeans, whose technology was patented by US biotech seed giant Monsanto Co and is the only GMO soyabean used in Brazil.
"This could help improve public opinion about transgenic soya in Brazil because many people say that we should not legalise GMO soya because Monsanto would have a monopoly," said Joao Veloso Silva, assistant head of research at Embrapa.
Brazil banned GMO food and crops until early 2003 when the government granted amnesty to producers illegally planting GMO soya acquired on a widespread black market.
Illegal GMO soya has been reproduced on the local market clandestinely but was originally smuggled into Brazil from Argentina and Paraguay where RR soya is widely planted.
Embrapa's new GMO soya is resistant to Imidazolinone-based herbicides, which would kill other soyabeans that have not had a certain enzyme altered genetically.
Monsanto's RR soya has been genetically altered in a similar way to resist herbicides of the Glyphosate family.
"The new (GMO) soya has been adapted to various types of Brazilian soya and has performed very well in early tests," Carlos Arias, genetic researcher at Embrapa, said on the sidelines of the World Soybean Research Conference.
"This will give the market options but the price of Imidazolinone is still costly, at least twice as expensive as Glyphosate," Arias added.
Silva said Imidazolinone herbicides had already been approved for commercial use in Brazil but the new GMO soya was still in the lengthy approval phase for public use.
"The research demands are strict and there is no date projected for approval for commercial use yet," said Silva.