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Update on Africa and biotech crops by Craig Winters
(Thursday, Aug. 29, 2002 -- CropChoice guest commentary) -- Nearly 13 million people in six African nations - Lesotho, Malawi,
Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia - are facing starvation
because of the worse food crisis in a decade.
The United States has offered to ship in genetically engineered corn
(maize) to help alleviate the problem.
Three of the countries - Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland - have accepted
the genetically engineered corn. Zimbabwe and Mozambique accepted the
corn only after it was agreed that it would be milled to prevent it from
being planted and potentially cross-pollinating with native varieties.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has refused to accept the genetically
engineered corn stating, "We would rather starve than get something
toxic."
The U.S. has a surplus of corn because many countries around the world
do not want to buy it. Besides not wanting genetically engineered corn,
they are concerned that U.S. corn is contaminated with the StarLink
variety, a form of biotech corn not approved for human consumption.
Although originally planted in less than one half of one percent of the
total acreage of corn, approximately ten percent of U.S. corn is now
contaminated with StarLink DNA. StarLink corn cross-pollinated with
other varieties, dramatically reducing the international market for U.S.
corn. Most of the surplus U.S. corn is being fed to livestock.
Below are two articles discussing Zambia's rejection of the
biotech corn. The first is from the front page of Wednesday's Los
Angeles Times titled "Zambia Rejects Gene-Altered U.S. Corn." The second
was from an Associated Press article a few days ago titled "Zambia
Rejects U.N. Food Appeal."
By DAVAN MAHARAJ and ANTHONY MUKWITA
Los Angeles Times
SHIMABALA, Zambia -- After waiting seven hours under the sizzling
African sun, John Shikuboni hoped to fill his empty sack with free corn
stored in a warehouse here.
But an aid official told Shikuboni and about 200 other hungry men, women
and children that he could no longer distribute the corn because the
Zambian government had ruled that the genetically modified grain was not
safe for them.
"Please give us the food," pleaded an elderly blind man wearing a
threadbare shirt. "We don't care if it is poisonous because we are dying
anyway."
Many Zambians in rural areas have resorted to eating leaves, twigs and
even poisonous berries and nuts to cope with the worst food crisis in a
decade hitting southern Africa. Still, their government is refusing to
accept donations of genetically modified corn that the United Nations
and aid agencies say could help ease the starvation and suffering of
about 2.5 million Zambians.
The United States, United Nations and humanitarian aid groups insist
that the U.S.-donated corn is safe and identical to grain eaten daily by
people in the United States, Canada and other countries. But Zambian
officials say they fear that the gene-altered corn poses health risks to
their citizens.
"We would rather starve than get something toxic," said Zambian
President Levy Mwanawasa, who declared a food emergency in the nation
three months ago.
Privately, aid officials say the Zambian government is looking a gift
horse in the mouth.
The Bush administration has dispatched to Zambia its top aid official,
Andrew Natsios, administrator for the U.S. Agency for International
Development, to persuade Mwanawasa to accept the food.
Natsios is expected to meet with Mwanawasa today in Lusaka, the Zambian
capital.
"I'm going to tell him he needs to reverse that decision," Natsios said
in a telephone interview. "It's endangering people's lives, and we're
going to have massive losses of life if this policy remains in place."
A savage confluence of events--drought, bad governance and
disease--means that about 13 million people in six southern African
countries face starvation. Many of them now rely on rations from the
U.N. food agency to survive.
U.N. officials say they must have $500 million to avert a famine. So
far, the United States has been the most willing donor, shipping a few
hundred thousand tons of food to southern Africa.
But the U.S. gifts have ignited a debate in the region about the safety
of grain whose genes have been modified to produce higher yields and
bolster resistance to drought, diseases and herbicides.
Southern Africa is not alone in its suspicion of genetically modified
food. The European Union bans many modified products, and some European
scientists say the crops could cause allergic reactions in consumers.
Leaders of several African countries say they find themselves in a
dilemma: Feed their people food they believe causes allergic reactions,
or let them die. Agricultural officials also worry that the grain would
be planted and, through cross-pollination, would contaminate their
natural varieties.
Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland agreed to accept the U.S. donations after
the World Health Organization--and several U.S. agencies--certified the
U.S. corn as safe. Zimbabwe and Mozambique accepted the grain on the
condition that it would be milled before distribution to prevent people
from planting it.
But Zambia--a landlocked nation slightly larger than Texas--has been the
lone holdout, saying its top scientists had warned about the alleged
health risks of gene-altered corn. The country's agriculture minister
said Zambia would import non-altered food to feed its hungry.
"There's no way we can help them if they don't accept the food," James
Morris, director of the U.N. World Food Program, said from his Rome
office Tuesday night. "No one is going to step up with donations of
non-GM [genetically modified] corn to fill the gap. This is food we have
complete confidence in."
Despite the official skepticism in Zambia and other countries, some
prominent African scientists have been lobbying for African nations to
embrace genetic engineering to secure the food supply and increase
efficiency and crop yields.
"GM crops and foods are just one part of the overall strategy to ensure
sufficient food" for Africa, said Jennifer Thomson, a professor of
molecular and cell biology at the University of Cape Town in South
Africa. "Europe has enough food. They don't need GM foods. But we have
different needs."
Natsios, the USAID administrator, said he recently was heartened by the
Zambian government's decision to let aid workers distribute genetically
modified corn to Congolese and Angolan refugees living in camps here.
He said the Zambian government is probably trying to use the
gene-altered corn issue to gain leverage in its relations with the
United States. He noted that the United States greeted Mwanawasa's
election last year with a lukewarm response after the opposition and
other groups alleged that the balloting was rigged.
For the good of starving Zambians, Natsios said, Mwanawasa "needs to
separate the diplomatic issue from this [food] issue."
In Shimabala, a farming village 40 miles south of Lusaka, Shikuboni and
others say they hope the government swiftly reverses its policy.
Only recently, Shimabala was a bountiful collection of farms producing
maize, cassava and other crops. But the drought has reduced the corn
fields to parched brown earth with only a few dying shrubs.
Steven Grabiner, a food aid official, said the thousands of bags of food
in his warehouse could feed Shimabala's 300 families for at least a
month.
"I would rather eat that maize than die because the government has no
alternative to the hunger problem," said Bweengwa Nzala, a 28-year-old
farmhand. "The government was elected by us the people, and now we are
hungry. We want the government to help feed us instead of forcing us to
resort to eating wild fruits like monkeys."
"We are not afraid," said Florence Chisanga, who also waited in vain at
Grabiner's food distribution center. "If we die tomorrow, no problem.
What we want is food."
Times staff writer Maharaj reported from Nairobi, Kenya, and special
correspondent Mukwita from Shimabala.
By MIKE COHEN
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Zambia has rejected a U.N. appeal to
distribute genetically modified food, saying it would procure enough
other grain to feed its starving people.
Aid agencies estimate that almost 2.5 million Zambians are in danger of
starvation if they do not receive urgent aid.
``We have the situation under control,'' Zambian Agriculture Minister
Mundia Sikatana said Saturday. ``We don't need to engage the
biotechnology at this stage. We are assisting (hungry people) with help
from well-wishers and are overwhelmed by the response.''
Zambia has refused to accept donations of genetically modified food and
has said the food may be a health risk. It has also expressed concern
that Zambians may try to plant the biotech grains of cereal,
contaminating the country's crops that are not genetically modified.
The major U.N. food and health agencies - the World Food Program, the
U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization
- released a policy statement Friday saying as far as they were
concerned genetically modified foods were safe.
``There is no way that the World Food Program can provide the resources
to feed these starving people without using food that has some biotech
content,'' spokesman James Morris told reporters.
But Sikatana said the safety of the grain remained unproven.
``We cannot be so irresponsible so as to risk the lives of innocent
people,'' he said in a telephone interview. ``We have measures in place
to cover (food needs for) the period up to the next harvest.''
Zambia is concerned genetically modified food may be putting at risk
trade with the European Union and other countries that have strict rules
on biotech crops.
``If we engage in GM our exports will be thrown overboard (and) that
will cost thousands of jobs,'' Sikatana said. ``We know that the
situation is critical (and) we know that we are making sufficient
efforts to ensure nobody will starve.''
On Wednesday the U.S. State Department called on the European Union ``to
join us in assuring governments in the region that food made from
biotech crops is safe and should be distributed immediately to those who
so desperately need it.''
The EU's executive commission put out a statement Friday backing the
U.S. position that the food was safe, while adding that it was ``up to
beneficiary countries to make an informed decision on whether to
accept'' the biotech food.
The United Nations estimates 12.8 million people in Zambia and five
other Southern African countries - Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho
and Swaziland - urgently need help to avoid mass starvation caused by
erratic weather and exacerbated by government mismanagement in some | |
