Dear friends and colleagues,
The ACB, supported by 18 organisations/networks in South Africa, has made a substantive submission to the Registrar of the Fertilizers, Farm Feeds, Seeds and Remedies Act 36 of 1947 (commonly referred to as Act 36), to institute a review in terms of section 4 of the Act 36, into the continued registration of the toxic chemical 2,4-D.
For more than 10 years, the ACB has been vehemently opposing the importation and cultivation of genetically modified (GM) maize resistant to 2,4-D. This opposition has also been directed at GM maize varieties developed by Corteva (formally Dow AgroSciences) – genetically engineered to tolerate 2,4-D – that were approved for commercial cultivation in 2019 in South Africa (SA), where maize is a staple food for the majority of people. Further to this, the ACB has called for 2,4-D to be classified as a highly hazardous pesticide (HHP) and for it to be banned along with other HHPs.
In this review submission, the ACB outlines that 2,4-D is an immune suppressant and SA is a country with the highest rate of HIV/Aids in the world. As such, these GM varieties sprayed with 2,4-D pose a threat to the state’s health programme, with its massive expenditure on bringing down the levels of mortality from HIV/Aids. Not only does 2,4-D pose a threat to public health but also to the environment, particularly regarding the protection and promotion of biodiversity.
To read the full submission, please click here.
If you wish to support this submission, we strongly urge you to write to the Registrar of Act 36, Mr Mudzunga at malutam@dalrrd.gov.za
Please click here to read Inyanda People’s National Land Movement’s statement of support.
Related activism:
2023
2,4-D GM maize and the regulatory anomalies regarding GMOs and associated pesticides
South Africa’s list of highly hazardous pesticides researched and published by the network Unpoison
2019
Objection against general release of three 2,4-D GM maize varieties
Further reading:
- South Africa and 2,4 D stacked GM maize: biosafety, socio-economic risks
- War Chemical 2,4 D GM maize in SA: in the fields and coming to our plates soon
- Letters to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for urgent interventions: Dow’s 2,4 D + glufosinate ammonium + glyphosate tolerant GM soya
- Civil society calls for public parliamentary hearings on genetically modified food
- The new generation of GM herbicide crops – poison cocktail for ailing agriculture
- Dow’s Application For Commodity Clearance of DAS-68416-4 [GM Soybeans 2.4] in SA
- Independent scientific biosafety assessment of the application for commodity clearance of transgenic soybean, DAS-68416-4
- South African government blasted over approval of ‘Agent Orange’ GM soya
- What next after a ban on glyphosate – more toxic chemicals and GM crops?
- Glyphosate in SA: unregulated and contaminating our water and soil: ACB calls for a moratorium on glyphosate use
- SA’s food safety compromised by lack of testing for risky glyphosate
- Glyphosate in SA: Risky pesticide at large and unregulated in our soil and water
- How much glyphosate is on your dinner plate? SA’s food safety compromised by lack of testing
- Monsanto’s risky triple herbicide-tolerant soybeans to enter South Africa’s food systems
- No safe limits for toxic pesticides in our food
- GM0 Alert: news and status quo in South Africa
- Objection to application by Dow for general release of GM maize: MON89034 X TC1507 x NK603 with the intention for cultivation in the entire region of South Africa
- ACB’s Objections to Syngenta’s application for field trials of GM maize
