Latest Resources
30 April 2008
“Knowledge not for Sale” – A Briefing Paper by the African Centre for Biosafety
The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) is a non-profit, activist NGO based in South Africa, specialising in promoting biosafety and challenging biopiracy, agrofuels and the commodification of biological resources and associated traditional knowledge. Read more here.
5 March 2008
Hot potato in South Africa
GM potatoes in South Africa: a critical analysis, is an ACB publication written by Vanessa Black. Read here.
5 March 2008
New GM Potato Book: Executive Summary
In 2001, the South African Agricultural Research Council (ARC) began conducting field trials with potatoes genetically modified to contain a Bt gene Cry1Ia1 (formerly BtCryV). This novel gene is intended to protect the plants and potato tubers from infestations of the Potato tuber moth (Phthorimaea operculella). This research is not home grown or ‘truly South […]
19 February 2008
The Geopolitics of Agrofuels
OPENING PANDORA’S BOX: GMOS, FUELISH PARADIGMS AND SOUTH AFRICA’s BIOFUELS STRATEGY. Read here.
14 February 2008
Displacing Africa’s Indigenous Food: Monsanto & AATF’s GM Cowpea Project
Nairobi based African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and Monsanto are set to introduce genetically engineered cowpeas in the coming years into the fields and tables of Africa. It will use Nigeria and Burkina Faso as key entry points, with Ghana, Cameroon, Niger and Mali comprising the second tier of countries that will be targeted. The […]
13 February 2008
Hot Potato: GM Potatoes in South Africa – a critical analysis
This research is not home grown or ‘truly South African’. The ARC is part of an international consortium, which includes the Michigan State University (MSU), the International Potato Centre in Peru and gene giant, Syngenta. Syngenta has quietly been cornering the GM food potato market; lodging a stream of patents in the US and other […]
13 February 2008
South Africa’s Biofuels Strategy: greenwashing agribusiness interests
The impetus for the establishment of a biofuels industry in South Africa also came from industry lobbyists under the banner of the Southern African Biofuels Association (SABA). Consequently, the South African government published a feasibility report and a draft Biofuels Industrial Strategy in 2006, which proposed the establishment of a mandatory bioethanol target of 8% […]
7 February 2008
GMO Field Trials – A briefing document
Questions around GMO field trials in South Africa continue to be asked. Where exactly are they happening, when will there be adequate environmental risk assessment and post-release monitoring, what are the effects on neighbours of GMO field trials and what are the cumulative affects of all the field trials that have happened in South Africa? […]
4 February 2008
GM Vaccines in South Africa – a case for the precautionary principle
Vaccines containing living genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are still at an experimental level in the world today. In South Africa, the first clinical trials for genetically modified (GM) vaccines were approved in 2003. These included several trials for HIV and TB vaccines, while several more applications for trials are pending, including those for other GM […]
28 January 2008
Agrofuels in South Africa – projects, players and poverty
The South African government has readily embraced the establishment of an agrofuels industry, citing job creation, the need for clean and renewable energy and the creation of markets for small-holder farmers, as key motivators. Nevertheless, it is our view that the logic of the Biofuels Strategy to introduce large-scale, mono-crop agriculture into the former homelands […]