The government wants to respect the wishes of producers in Rio Grande do Sul, who fear that they, like American farmers, may lose significant sales in European markets with the introduction of Roundup Ready soybeans. The United States, which has not ratified the convention but was in Cartagena as an observer, used that restricted status to orchestrate a refusal to allow the meeting to include commodities like soya beans and corn in the negotiations. If individual states do refuse, they will be liable to challenge at the World Trade Organisation where the U.S. has immense influence. Developing countries had engaged in the Biosafety Protocol negotiations with the aim of using the Protocol to help them in developing domestic laws and regulatory frameworks for biosafety. Many developing countries do not yet have biosafety laws in place and will now be vulnerable to being swamped by the export of GMOs.
Biotech companies are very keen to push genetically engineered organisms and products on the South.
Greenpeace accused the Americans of threatening biodiversity in the name of profit. It seems that the U.S, driven by the commercial interests of companies such as Monsanto, is willing to threaten the world's biodiversity and forego any international safeguards on the trade in GMOs. The biotech companies welcomed the collapse of the negotiations. The petition to the court was filed by Dr Vandana Shiva and others. The Petitioners are also seeking a moratorium on trials of the genetically engineered cotton for three to five years unless biosafety regulations are in place and until the ecological risk assessment has been carried out on a scientifically sound basis.