Latest Resources
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 […]
9 March 2011
How US sorghum seed distributions undermine the FAO Plant Treaty’s Multilateral System
New data from ICRISAT and the US Department of Agriculture and a comparison of genebank records indicates that half of more of ICRISAT’s sorghum genebank collection is also being distributed outside of the Multilateral System. This yawning gap creates an economic incentive for the Multilateral System and its benefit-sharing requirements to be avoided. USDA’s sorghum […]
19 February 2011
Agrochemical giant DuPont to sell Bolivian sorghum gene
In 2012 multinational giant DuPont plans to begin selling sorghum varieties containing a valuable gene taken from a sudan grass that was collected in 2006 in Bolivia. The gene, branded as ‘Inzen A II’, makes sorghum plants tolerant to herbicides made by DuPont and other companies, and was acquired under exclusive license from Kansas State […]
17 April 2010
140 groups & scientists urge Senate to oppose GM clause in Global Food Security Act
140 groups & scientists urge Senate to oppose GM clause in Global Food Security Act 13 Apr 2010 Dear Colleagues: Today’s press release on the Global Food Security Act below, expressing the concerns of PAN, Food First, National Family Farm Coalition, the African Center for Biosafety and partners. And MANY MANY thanks to all of […]
17 April 2010
An Open Letter to Oxfam America
Sent from the following concerned groups: African Center on Biodiversity, South Africa (Mariam Mayet, Executive Director) Bharatiya Krishak Samaj/Indian Farmers Association, India (Krishan Bir Chaudhary, President) Center for Food Safety, U.S. (Debi Barker, International Director) CNOP (Coordination Nationale des organizations Paysannes/ National Coordination of Peasant Organizations), Mali (Ibrahima Coulibaly, President) Grassroots International, US (Nikhil Aziz, […]
4 March 2010
The GM stacked gene revolution: A biosafety nightmare
Stacked GMOs are those containing more than one gene genetically engineered into a crop plant. A controversial stacked GMO, Smarstax containing 8 such genetically engineered genes, was commercially approved in the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea during 2009. Stacked gene varieties are highly complex, posing new biosafety risks that outpace the capacity of regulatory […]
26 January 2010
Joy as Pelargonium patent revoked
The Opposition Division of the European Patent Office (EPO) has today revoked a patent granted to Dr. Willmar Schwabe (Schwabe) in its entirety. The patent was opposed by the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) from South Africa acting on behalf of a rural community in Alice, in the Eastern Cape, in collaboration with the Swiss […]
19 October 2007
Biopiracy meeting ends with no progress
This article was published in the SUNS #6345, Wednesday, 17 October 2007. Any reproduction or re-circulation of this article requires the permission of the SUNS (sunstwn@bluewin.ch). SUNS #6345 Wednesday 17 October 2007 south-north development monitor SUNS United Nations: Biopiracy meet ends with no progress. Read here.
27 July 2004
SA biosafety regulators in bed with industry on GM potatoes?
The South African government has approved a United States funded project that will soon see genetically engineered potatoes sprouting in six secret locations in African soil. Similar potatoes were first grown in the United States but were withdrawn from the market due to consumer resistance. Read more.