Brazil's biotech regulator said on Friday it could clear new varieties of genetically modified (GMO) soy, corn, cotton and rice for commercial use by December, after five years of backlog.
On Wednesday, a federal tribunal said a majority of its judges recognised the power of the government's Technical Commission on Biotechnology (CTNBio) to determine what GMO products can be sold in Brazil.
"The commission (CTNBio) could produce final technical findings (clearance) by December for three products," CTNBio's executive secretary Jairon do Nascimento told Reuters.
The executive said the commission was closest to granting clearance to GMO varieties of corn, cotton and rice, which have been developed by US biotech seed giant Monsanto, Germany's agrochemicals maker BASF, Bayer Seeds and other bioengineering companies.He did not specify which firms were seeking approval for which crops.
Over the past five years the CTNBio has been hobbled by court injunctions from environmental group Greenpeace and the local consumer watchdog Idec that challenged its authority. And the two groups are preparing to file a new appeal next week.
"It's not the final decision on the issue," said Mariana Paoli, specialist in Brazil on GMOs for Greenpeace. "It would be crazy to think new GMO products will be entering the market right away because of this decision."
Idec lawyer Paulo Pacini said the court's decision, published on Wednesday, was only preliminary. Pacini said Idec and Greenpeace would appeal in the same court before the decision became binding.
But legal specialists say the CTNBio's powers will remain intact as subsequent appeals run their course, unlike the past five years.
"It will be very hard for Idec or Greenpeace to challenge the CTNBio's power to regulate the biotech sector now," biotech legal specialist Antonio Jose Monteiro at Pinheiros Neto Advogados told.