Latest Resources
24 March 2011
Flawed Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Act
It was only in 1999, after much pressure from civil society groups, that the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Act of 1997 came into force. At that early stage, few people had expertise on GMOs and civil society was only starting to learn about the issues. Therefore, government relied on experts from the biotechnology industry to […]
24 March 2011
Monsanto – from chemical producer to food producer
Monsanto is one of the most powerful players in the global seed business today. Not only does it own a huge portion of the world’s commercial seed, but it also wields a lot of power over global agricultural policy and practice. How did a company that started out by making chemicals for warfare, gain control […]
24 March 2011
What is a GM crop?
Genetically modified (GM) seeds have been created in a laboratory. The process of creating them is completely new and does not happen in nature. Since farming began people have worked with nature to breed plants and animals to suit human needs. Usually this breeding can only happen within the same ‘species’ or family. For example, […]
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 […]
2 March 2011
Title Submission to the Dept of Justice on the Promotion of Access to Information Amendment Bill-...
Following the promulgation of the Genetically Modified Organisms Act in 1997, numerous GMOs have been approved in South Africa. The 1997 GMO Act was amended in 2006, and the new regulations took effect on the 26th of February 2010. This submission sets out details of our problems in accessing information from government with regard to […]
2 March 2011
ACB submission to the Secretariat of the Biosafety Protocol – discussions on socio-economic...
28 May 2011 The Secretariat of the Biosafety Protocol is engaging in discussions on socio-economic provisions related to decision-making and GMOs (Article 26). The ACB has submitted several studies from South Africa to enrich this discussion and has applied to participate in online discussions. These documents highlight South African experiences regarding the rejection of GM […]
31 January 2011
ACB comments on Regulations to the Consumer Protection Act related to labelling of Genetically Mo...
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10 November 2010
Opposition to Pioneer Hi Bred’s merger with Pannar, submitted to Competitions Commission
As a stakeholder, the ACB was requested by the Competition Commission to make written comments on the proposed merger between Pioneer Hi Bred and Pannar, which we submitted to the Commission on the 21st of October, 2010. In this submission, we raise the following further pertinent issues: We provide in several annexes, the seeds under […]
19 October 2010
ACB Submission to the Department of Trade and Industry on the Intellectual Property Amendment Bil...
The Intellectual Property Amendment Bill aims to strengthen intellectual property rights relating to traditional performances, traditional work, traditional terms of expressions and traditional designs. The Bill has been widely condemned as sounding the death knell for traditional knowledge as it attempts to provide protection for Traditional Knowledge (TK) within a western intellectual property regime, originally […]