Latest Resources
16 May 2013
ACB’s comments on the COMESA Harmonisation of seed trade regulations
ACB’s comments on the COMESA Harmonisation of seed trade regulations. Read here.
2 April 2013
Civil Society Statement on COMESA Seed Trade Laws
This submission was made by civil society groups at a COMESA meeting in Lusaka during March 2013, in which serious concerns were raised about the COMESA seed trade laws as negatively impacting on small farmers in the COMESA region. Statement made by: Zambia Climate Change Network (ZCCN); East and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers Forum […]
25 February 2013
GM Industry Called to Account: ISAAA’s report mischievous and erroneous
The Africa Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has dismissed the findings of the biotechnology industry’s flagship annual report, published by the GM industry funded ‘NGO’, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), as mischievous and erroneous. According to the report, South Africa’s GM crop area increased by a record 26% or 600,000 hectares […]
27 November 2012
Harmonisation of Africa’s seed laws: death knell for African seed systems
The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has released its new report titled, ‘Harmonisation of Africa’s seed laws: a recipe for disaster- Players, motives and dynamics. The report shows how African governments are being co-opted into harmonising seed laws relating to border control measures, phytosanitary control, variety release systems, certification standards and intellectual property rights, to […]
23 November 2012
Harmonisation of Africa’s seeds laws: a recipe for disaster
The core of the paper is focused on the pressures being exerted on African governments to adopt the 1991 Act of the International Union for the Protection of Plant Varieties (UPOV), particularly through regional harmonisation of plant variety protection (PVP) policies and laws. We also discuss the adverse impacts PVP laws will have on the […]
4 July 2012
Comments on COMESA’s Draft Policy on Commercial Planting, Trade and Emergency Food Aid Invo...
On the 8th and 9th May 2012 COMESA held a meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, to review a draft policy on the regulation and trade of GMOs for the region. While the Biotech Industry was very well represented at the meeting, civil society was completely left out of the process. This policy is being drafted behind […]
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 […]
4 May 2010
MINISTER DEFIES GM BODY AS GM CASSAVA FIELD TRIALS GO AHEAD IN SA
The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) condemns the decision by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to allow GM cassava field trials to go ahead in South Africa. This despite SA’s GMO regulatory body rejecting such trials more than three years ago. The field trials involve cassava genetically modified to control starch content. On […]
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 […]