Instead of competing with us, the EU would rather starve African children
Modified Food-Aid Fears Slammed
Business Day (Johannesburg)
March 6, 2003
Posted to the web March 6, 2003
Tamar Kahn, Health And Science Correspondent
Cape Town
A delegation of African scientists who attended a European Union (EU) conference on agriculture in the developing world has come out in support of the US complaint that EU policies put pressure on African governments to reject food aid containing genetically modified organisms.
Last year Zambia turned down the offer of genetically modified maize from the US, saying the safety of the food had not been proven. It also declined the offer of a milled version free from seeds that farmers could plant.
The scientists complained that humanitarian groups such as Oxfam, Christian Aid and Save The Children, backed by EU funds, had frightened African governments into rejecting food aid. They said the groups had also alarmed starving populations. "Some groups have told people that genetically modified products are dangerous and could cause cancer," said the executive director of industry body Africabio, Prof Jocelyn Webster. Webster and Prof James Ochanda, head of biochemistry at the University of Kenya, led the African delegation.
The scientific delegation said that genetically modified crops boosted yields and could make Africa less dependent on foreign food aid.
The scientists also criticised Oxfam, Christian Aid and Save the Children for lobbying the UK government over developing countries' plans to grow genetically modified crops.
The European visit, which included meetings with the Vatican and the Food and Agriculture Organisation, was also intended to persuade officials that European anxieties over genetically modified food were directly affecting agricultural production in Africa.
Webster said developing countries were hampered in their efforts to use biotechnology to engineer improved crops because modified produce was not acceptable to European markets.
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