Latest GMOs/Biosafety in South Africa Resources

 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 […]

DISASTER CAPITALISM, BIOTECH INDUSTRY IN DECLINE & INSTRUMENTALISATION OF WHEAT IN AFRICA In August 2022, the South African government approved a GM wheat variety HB4 for importation as food, feed, and for the purposes of industrial food and feed processing, following Nigeria’s approval in July. Since then, Argentina and Brazil have been the only two […]

The case for categorising 2,4-D as a highly hazardous pesticide in South Africa In December 2019, three genetically modified (GM maize) varieties developed by Corteva (formally Dow AgroSciences) – genetically engineered to tolerate the toxic and highly hazardous chemical 2,4-D – were approved for commercial cultivation in South Africa, despite many long years of opposition […]

In 2023, on 7-8 February, the ACB finally had a court hearing in the High Court in Pretoria, after five years of protracted legal proceedings since we lodged the application for a review. The aim has been to overturn the decisions of the South African Executive Council: GMO Act (EC), the GMO Appeal Board, and […]

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, 7-8 February, the ACB’s case was heard in the High Court. Five years earlier, the ACB lodged the application for this review, to overturn the decisions of the South African Executive Council (EC): Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Act, the GMO Appeal Board, and the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and […]

In 2017, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) lodged legal proceedings with the High Court of South Africa to review and overturn the decisions of the South African Executive Council: GMO Act (EC), the GMO Appeal Board, and the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, approving Monsanto/Bayer’s genetically modified (GM) drought-tolerant (DT) maize variety MON […]

The ACB was shocked to discover that over the past years research has been conducted for the application for field trials of a genetically modified (GM) insect-resistant (Bt) and herbicide-tolerant (Ht) sugar cane variety, primarily as protection against the lepidopteran stalk borer Eldana saccharina. As we report in our new alert, in the same timeframe, […]

The endless extensions to the State of Disaster, initially declared two years ago, has provoked criticism from medical experts and calls for its end from public-interest groups and an increasingly fed-up citizenry. Recently, the government announced that the restrictions were finally to be lifted.  However, during this time, a draft amendment to the National Health […]

Agrarian extractivism continues unabated on the African continent In this alert, African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) research and advocacy officers, Sabrina Masinjila and Rutendo Zendah, give insights into the development of a double stacked drought tolerant variety MON 87460 x MON 810, under the Gate’s funded project, Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), now known […]

It is incontestable that 2,4-D is extremely toxic for the environment and human health, as numerously raised and resisted by civil society for more than a decade. However, a succession of South African regulators over the years have failed to stop 2,4-D from entering our agricultural and food system, in a global context where many […]

Despite the grave warnings of the COVID 19 pandemic and the increased need to de-colonise and de-corporatise our food systems and shift towards sovereignty, there continues to be an increase in the applications for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) of the 2,4-D variety, for introduction into the South African farming and food system. This trend is […]

ACB’s objection to commodity clearance of Corteva’s MON 89034 x TC1507 x MIR162 x NK603 x DAS-40278-9 maize The COVID-19 pandemic shines a light exposing the fragility of South Africa’s unequal and unjust food system. A food system that continues to choose herbicides over health, and profit over people and our planet. Since the pandemic, […]