There's been more news from two BRICSA nations, in this case Brazil and South Africa, pushing back against western agribusiness giants and their GMOs. Brazil's federal appeals court has issued a ruling stopping cultivation in Brazil of Bayer's GM corn(maize) in that country, and South Africa has forced Mon(ster)santo to withdraw advertisements in that country that claim benefits of GMOs, citing the fact that these claims are unsubstantiated:

Brazil's Historic Court Ruling Stops Bayer's GM Maize Cultivation in that Country

MONSANTO FORCED TO WITHDRAW UNSUBSTANTIATED ADVERTISING CLAIMS ON BENEFITS OF GM CROPS-ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITY OF SOUTH AFRICA

As far as the South African article goes, it appears that country has gone directly for the jugular of the "science" supporting Mon(ster)santo's claims: the science for GMO safety appears to be something less than independent:

“We are elated with this decision. Monsanto has already been warned by the ASA as far back as 2007, that it needs to substantiate its claims from an independent and credible expert in the matter of GM Food/M Wells/ 8739 (18 June 2007) regarding its claims of the so called benefits of GM crops. However, it appears Monsanto does not have much regard for South African law as it is hell bent on disseminating false information to the South African public, “ said Mariam Mayet, Executive Director of the ACB.

And as far as Brazil is concerned, the same issue appears to be in play:

"The Brazilian Court annulled the decision by Brazil’s Biosecurity Commission (CTNBio), who had allowed the release for cultivation of Liberty Link GM Maize. The civil action against CTNBio was started by Land Rights, the Brazilian Institute for Consumer Defense – IDEC and the National Association of Small Farmers. "The decision is reported to have created new legal paradigm and may force Brazilian authorities to reconsider all other commercial releases of GMOs in Brazil. Never before has a Judge stated that there is a need for studies on the negative impacts of GMOs in all major biomes in the country."(emphasis added)

But I strongly suspect there is something else going on here, and that this "something else" may be a quiet, and coordinated, policy on the part of the BRICSA nations(Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). For quite some time I have been arguing that eventually we would see the BRICSA nations turning the Western oligarchies' own use of food as a weapon, via control of the food supply by dint of the process of patent law, on its head, as they would enter the arena of "food geopolitics" by speaking for those small farmers persecuted by the western agribusiness industry, and those concerned about their food supply and its healthfulness and nutritional value, by promoting and selling non-GMO or natural crop seeds.

In this respect, the Indian government, it will be recalled, began to raise concerns when several Indian farmers began to commit suicide, unable to pay the loans and fees the agribusiness companies were extracting. More recently, the Russian state Duma has considered a total moratorium on GMOs while inter-generational scientific studies were conducted, and that, more than anything else, probably sent shockwaves - never publicly acknowledged of course - through the agribusiness industry, for such a study would expose the weaknesses inherent, and already repeatedly pointed out, in the so-called "studies" that claimed their safety. It would be major exposure of the industry hypocrisy.

Now, a Brazilian high court, and South Africa, have joined Russia in effect by voicing similar concerns.

The implication is clear: those countries are singing off the same page, doubtless for valid scientific concerns over the long term effects of GMOs on human health and the environment, but also because of the wider geopolitical implication. It's more pushback, and it's only going to increase. Maybe, just maybe(indulging in some high octane speculation here) this is a hidden financial and gepolitical reason driving the Ukrainian mess, and the current hysteria for sanctions against Russia. If those calls are expanded to concoct reasons to include South Africa, or Brazil or India in that effort, we'll know the game's afoot, at least as far as the "food geopolitics" goes.

See you on the flip side...