The Landless Rural Workers Movement denounced on Wednesday, December 22nd, that a lawyer of US seed company Monsanto helped to co-draft Vaccarezza’s Bill.

The MST said that the “Terminator” technology has been strongly criticized by the UN since 1998 and at local level by the Brazilian Association for Agrarian Reform (ABRA).

The lawyer who advised Vacarezza, according to the MST, is Patricia Fukuma, and is widely known for defending companies “that own patents of genetically modified organisms”.

“The help provided by Monsanto’s lawyer is a symbol of the interests the food industries and multinational companies have to pass Vaccarezza’s bill”, said the MST. The Movement found out about Fukuma’s participation in a PDF document submitted to the House of Representatives for discussion.

Vacarezza has denied all accusations, according to the MST’s website. First he said that he didn’t know the lawyer, although in another interview he recognized that it was possible that they had some conversations.

In an interview with “Congresso em Foco”, Monsanto’s lawyer said that one of Vaccarezza’s assistants, Maria Thereza Pedroso, contacted her to review the project. “Actually, I’m not the author of the bill, I just contributed with some suggestions”, said Fukuma.

Photo: www.mst.org.br