Latest Resources
27 July 2006
Can the poor help GM crops? Technology, Representation, and Cotton in the Makhathini Flats
The adoption of Genetically Modified (GM) cotton in South Africa’s Makhathini Flats in 1998 was heralded as a case in which agricultural biotechnology could benefit smallholder farmers, and a model for the rest of the continent to follow. Using historical, political economic and ethnographic data, we find the initial enthusiasm around GM technology to be […]
27 June 2006
Groups in Latin America and Africa call for rejection of World Bank GEF biosafety projects
Two World Bank projects, with funding from the GEF (Global Environmental Facility), propose to introduce genetically modified crops such as maize, potatoes, cassava, rice and cotton into African and Latin American countries that are centres of origin or diversity for these and other major food crops. Civil society organisations warn that DNA contamination from genetically […]
4 June 2006
Article 18(2)(a): The Trojan Horse of the Biosafety Protocol
Read the article here. By Mariam Mayet African Centre for Biosafety July 2006 The “may contain” labels flood the feed sector. Even transboundary movements which could pass as GM-free under existing legislation for LMO-FFPs are labelled as “may contain”. Grain trade and important ports are leading in this clever move which actually ridicules the Protocol. […]
6 May 2006
South Africa, Bioethanol and GMOs: A Heady Mixture
On the 12th of May 2006 Syngenta South Africa (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary of Swiss chemical giant Syngenta, notified the public of its intention to seek commodity clearance for its GM maize for the use in the production of ethanol. This is the first GM application for commercial approval in the world for a non-feed, […]
1 March 2006
The status of Genetically Modified (GM) pharmaceutical crop research in South Africa
Genetically modified (GM) pharmaceutical crops are crops which have been genetically engineered / modified to produce pharmaceuticals. These pharmaceuticals can be vaccines, anti-bodies or therapeutic proteins. Pharma-crops (as they are known) are a contested and little-known terrain, with remarkable benefits being claimed for them in South Africa. Other voices ask about the contamination of the […]
7 February 2006
South Africans support international GM opposition day
Earthlife Africa (ELA) and the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) are joining an international day of action on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on Saturday the 8th of April, in demanding that GM food for sale in South Africa is labeled as such. Currently, South Africa’s labeling regulations do not require the mandatory labeling of GM […]
28 January 2006
The Long, winding road to a Biosafety Protocol – a South African view
At the negotiations for the Biosafety Protocol in Cartagena, the South Africa government surprised critics by displaying a maturity and understanding of the issues and concerns facing developing countries on the question of genetically engineered organisms. This in spite of attempts by the ‘Miami group’, a negotiating group representing the largest producer nations of biotechnology, […]
27 January 2006
Biohazard Map of GM Field Trials in SA
Now that the dust is settling after industry’s aggressive PR hype about the unsubstantiated increase in South Africa’s GM commercial plantings for 2006, we bring to you, based upon empirical data, a short briefing paper on the field trials of GMOs grown in South Africa during 2006, compiled by ACB researcher, Rose Williams. This briefing […]
4 April 2005
BT Cotton
BT cotton in South Africa – the case of the Makhathini farmers – Apr 2005 By Elfrieda Pschorn Strauss, GRAIN. Read here. Global agriculture and genetically modified cotton in Africa. By Stephen Greenberg. Read here.
25 January 2005
Dow Agrosciences field trials of GM maize blocked
The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has today learned that its objections, launched exactly 7 months ago, strenuously resisting DOW Agrosciencs application to field test its GM maize event TC 1507, have been successful. Read more here.