Latest GM & Biosafety Resources

17 June 2025 UPDATE: Thank you to all who signed our petition, supporting our call to hold the South African government and chemical industry accountable for the devastating effects of toxic pesticides on our society. Following the South African People’s Tribunal on AgroToxins (SAPToA), which was held in March this year, the three jurors, Judge […]

Over the past few years, the ACB has produced and shared several briefing papers concerning new genetic engineering technologies for food and agriculture. Building on this work, and in light of the major deregulation push globally concerning genome editing, including in several countries in Africa, we have produced two updated factsheets on this dangerous distraction […]

Even though first-generation genetically modified (GM) agricultural crops have faced significant setbacks and outright failures over the last two decades, a new push for second-generation GM crops has emerged. Despite the destructive role of industrial agricultural expansion in biodiversity loss and human health, we are seeing a resurgence in its momentum, with false solutions such […]

 We call on the government to reverse approval of GM wheat into our country Thank you to the 80+ organisations, listed below, who support this ACB submission to the South African Biosafety authorities, the Executive Council (EC): GMO Act, to review and reassess its decision to grant approval for the importation into South Africa of […]

Southern African civil society responds to false claims about benefits to food and nutrition security The African Centre of Biodiversity joins a collective of civil society organisations to endorse Glen Ashton’s calling out of chief economist of AgBiz, Wandile Sihlobo, on his May articles in Business Day and Project Syndicate, which promote the continued use […]

Clique aqui para a versão portuguesa Por favor, haga clic aquí para el español The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) has made a submission to the Registrar of GMOs in South Africa, following an application made by Professor Shabir Ahmed Madhi, from the Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit (RMPRU), Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, […]

Thank you for supporting our continental campaign to ban glyphosate The deadline for signing on to the petition was Friday, 30 August, 2019. In the next phase of the campaign, many organisations around the continent are sending letters to their governments calling for a ban. In this paper we explain why. Globally, glyphosate and glyphosate-based […]

We, the undersigned civil society organisations in Africa, hereby call upon the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Target Malaria project to stop the intended release of 10 000 genetically modified (GM) “male sterile” mosquitoes in Burkina Faso, as the release poses unacceptable risks to human beings and the environment. We note with grave […]

This paper provides an overview of the GM cotton push in in East and Southern Africa, within the context of the global and regional cotton markets.

OPEN LETTER TO AFRICAN BIOSAFETY REGULATORS Do not allow Africans to be used as guinea pigs for untested high-risk new GM technology The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa calls for an immediate ban on the importation into South Africa of Monsanto’s high-risk second-generation gene-silencing genetically modified (GM) maize destined for human consumption. AFSA rejects […]

This paper presents an evidence-based critique of the Report published by the Academy of Science South Africa (ASSAf) titled ‘Regulatory Implications of New Breeding Techniques’ (the Report). Our critique discusses the pro-GM propaganda contained in the Report and contrasts it with a well-established scientific body of concerns surrounding the use of these so-called new breeding […]

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