Latest Resources

31 January 2018
ACB’s Objection to Monsanto’s Application for Commodity Clearance of MON 87708 × MON 89788 × A554...
ACB is objecting to the commodity clearance of the triple-stacked GM soybean event MON 87708 x MON 89788 x A5547-127, due to concerns surrounding the lack of safety assessment data for this crop and the known toxicity of the three pesticides it is designed to tolerate. Its tolerance to three pesticides, glyphosate, glufosinate and dicamba […]

26 September 2017
Frequently asked questions about the WEMA project
The ACB and TWN have put together a short Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) Project.

23 August 2017
OPEN LETTER TO AFRICAN BIOSAFETY REGULATORS
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 […]

10 August 2017
RNA interference GMOs to enter South Africa and Nigeria
In this alert, the ACB warns that the South African government received an application for the commodity clearance (import for food, feed and processing) of a ‘multi-stacked variety’ of genetically modified (GM) maize – MON87427 × MON89034 × MIR162 × MON87411, which represents the entry of the second generation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in […]

31 July 2017
The Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project: Real or false solution to climate change?
By Lim Li Ching, Senior Researcher, Third World Network Climate change is an urgent challenge facing farmers in Africa. As our world warms, many farmers are already experiencing devastating consequences, including storms, drought, floods, heat waves and extreme weather events. The implications for food security are severe, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) […]

31 July 2017
No Safe Limits for Toxic Pesticides in Our Foods
On 7 April 7 2017 the South African government issued draft amendments to its regulations governing the legal limits for pesticide residues on food crops. The proposed amendments expose the gaps in regulations to date, despite the cultivation of herbicide-tolerant GM crops for almost two decades. As the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) team researched […]

13 July 2017
GM Agrofuel maize to enter SA food system!
In this GMO Alert, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) shares information that the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana, has in February 2017, granted Syngenta SA a commodity permit to import genetically modified (GM) maize that is genetically engineered for enhanced ethanol production for the agrofuels industry. (The maize expresses an enzyme, […]

22 June 2017
Regulatory Implications of New Breeding Techniques
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 […]

25 May 2017
War Chemical 2,4 D GM maize in SA: in the fields and coming to our plates soon
Press Release from the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE) and the Commercial & the Stevedoring, Agricultural and Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU) Thursday, 25 May 2017 The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) has published a briefing paper today titled, ‘South Africa and 2,4 D GM maize: Biosafety, Socio economic […]

25 May 2017
South Africa and 2,4 D stacked GM maize: biosafety, socio-economic risks
In 2015–2016 Dow AgroSciences Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd performed field trials on maize tolerant to 2,4-D (event DAS-87078-9) and stacked varieties carrying not only 2,4-D tolerance, but also glyphosate tolerance and/or Bt insectidal toxins. The trials are on going in 2017. The trials follow the approval for import for food, feed and processing in 2012, […]