Latest Resources

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Letter re South Africa’s non-compliance with information sharing requirements of the Cartag...

This is our third appeal to the Minister of Agriculture to comply with obligations under the Cartagena Protocol. This document lays out our concerns to the Minister and details the minimum requirements for information on GMOs that must be posted to the Biosafety Clearing House (BCH) according to the Protocol. It highlights the shortfalls in […]

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, […]

Support our appeal to the minister for Environmental Impact Assessment of GM maize GA21

On the13th of December 2009, Syngenta published a public notice of their intent to apply to the GMO Registrar for a permit for the general release of genetically modified maize, GA21. Having obtained a ‘non-confidential-business-information’ version of Syngenta’s application, it is our contention that the application cannot be adequately assessed. The information provided is sketchy […]

Request to approach SpungtaG2 appeals board as Amicus Curiae

At the Executive Council: GMO Act meeting of 21st July 2009, the decision was taken to deny the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) permission to release genetically modified potatoes onto the market. The decision was not published on the Department of Agriculture’s (DAFF) website until the 14th of October 2009. We are aware that the ARC […]

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 […]

GM Cassava update from the African Centre for Biosafety

During 2006, the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) submitted an application to the South African GMO Authority, the Executive Council: GMO Act, for permission to conduct field trials of GM Cassava. The ACB and the international NGO, GRAIN, submitted comprehensive objections to the application on 8 September 2006, widely supported by local and international groups and […]