Latest Resources
24 March 2011
International regulation of GMOs
Genetic engineering (GE), also called genetic modification (GM), is not just a modern version of the natural breeding that we know and have practised for many thousands of years. It is a new and totally artificial way of creating living organisms that can never occur in nature. These genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have a life […]
24 March 2011
Debunking GM myths
The biotechnology industry has spread many myths about what GMOs can do. These are not based on fact and have been shown to be false in reality. Myths we often hear include: GMOs decrease pesticide use; they have massively increased yield potential; and have been thoroughly tested for safety. GM crops are not the norm. […]
9 March 2011
Alert to anti-GM activists in Egypt, India, Mexico and South Korea
South Africa’s GM maize flooding into your countries!!! The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has been monitoring the GMO landscape in South Africa since 2004. As recently as three years ago South Africa was importing millions of tons of GM maize from Argentina, used mainly in the animal feed industry. During 2010, South African maize […]
31 January 2011
Water Efficient Maize for Africa: Pushing GM Crops onto Africa
This paper looks at the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project within the context of the race by massive agribusiness corporations to bring climate change related crops to the market. The first part of the paper explains the WEMA project within this context, outlining the players and the stakes involved. It looks at who […]
28 October 2010
Synthetic Biology in Africa: Recent Developments
By Gareth Jones and Mariam Mayet The focus of this paper is the emerging field of synthetic biology, in particular its implications for the African continent. Synthetic biology combines a number of scientific disciplines and is generally understood to involve the deliberate design of biological systems, using standardised components that have been created in a […]
11 September 2010
The Gates Foundation and Cargill push Soya onto Africa
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is to grant US$8 million to develop a soya value chain in Africa, in partnership with US non-profit organisation TechnoServe and agricultural commodity trading giant Cargill. The announcement was made at the Soy Innovation Africa Conference held in Cape Town 26th and 27th August 2010. The project is meant […]
13 August 2010
GM Sorghum: Africa’s Golden Rice
In this paper, we critically analyse the African Biofortified Sorghum (ABS) project, a GM ‘poster project’ in Africa. We dig beneath the veneer of the project being an “African led solution” to poverty and malnutrition on the continent. We also focus attention on the myriad of sorghum research initiatives currently underway in Africa, using both […]
13 July 2010
Comments on COMESA’s Draft Policy on GMOs
The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) was very recently handed a copy of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa’s (COMESA) ‘Draft policy statements and guidelines for commercial planting of GMOs, Trade in GMOs and Emergency Food aid with GMO content’. Having perused the policy we are alarmed and outraged that COMESA appears to […]
13 July 2010
ACB condemnation for Comesa’s draconian free trade policy on GMOs
“The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has been handed a document of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) titled ‘Draft Policy Statements and Guidelines for commercial plantings of GMOs, Trade in GMOs and Emergency Food aid with GMO content.” The Policy intends to undermine and displace more than a decade’s worth of […]
14 May 2010
A good neighbour? South Africa forcing GM maize onto African markets and policy makers
Since the beginning of 2010, South Africa’s Executive Council responsible for GMO permit approvals has granted export permits for almost 300,000 Metric Tons (MT) of GM maize to be exported to Kenya, Mozambique, and Swaziland collectively, and 35,000 MT of GM soybean to Mozambique.1 Despite South Africa being Africa’s largest producer of maize, and a […]