Environmentalists took to the streets in Brazil last week in protest after the country's vice president said he would lift a ban on genetically modified soy crops.
Stepping into President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's shoes while abroad, vice-president José Alencar said that he would sign a decree ending the ban.
The news drove protesters from environmental group Greenpeace to march in the country's capital Brasilia, claiming that Lula had reneged on his pre-election promise - that if elected, he would uphold the ban on growing genetically modified crops in Brazil.
But the government is under pressure from farmers in southern Brazil who have urged it to pass an emergency bill to allow the use of GMO soybeans in the coming 2003-04 season (October-September).
Declaring that the presidential decree is unconstitutional, in a statement last week Greenpeace said it would head directly to the courts to try and overturn the decree.
The presidential measure lays down strict conditions for the planting and sale of GM crops - which will only be permitted until the next season beginning in October.
Brazil's Vegetable Oil Industries Association (Abiove) said recently that soybean exports for the 2003-04 period could reach 21 million tonnes, representing a 30.6 per cent jump from the 16.07 million tons exported last year. The group pitched the soybean crop forecast at 50.8 million tonnes.