SUBMISSION OF OBJECTIONS BY THE AFRICAN CENTRE FOR BIOSAFETY (ACB)

Objections To The Application Made By Monsanto South Africa For A Permit For A Trial Release Of Mon89034 And Mon89597 African Centre for Biosafety, 01 Oct 2005

OVERVIEW

DEVELOPER (MONSANTO) APPLICATION: AVAILABLE INFORMATION

The dossier supplied by Monsanto is designated Non Confidential Business Information (Non-CBI). Any response to developers of genetically modified foods is based on a system of gathering information from several sources. This includes engaging scientists and individuals that have similar concerns regarding the introduction of genetically modified foods and who keep track of the different events.

Further it includes accessing online government resources of different countries to monitor applications and their progress in those countries and also accessing developer and other websites (consumer groups, farmers, environmental organisations) to gather information on the events in question. On the basis of this information and coupled with our understanding of the South African situation and legislation a response is formulated to the developer highlighting our concerns.

It is instructive that a search on the internet across several search engines for both these events has not yielded a single result. Further, none of the individuals or organisations whom we liaise with have encountered either of these events. These are therefore completely new events that as far as we can tell have never been tested elsewhere.