Latest Resources

27 July 2007
GM Crops for Africa? No Thanks!
“Most African countries, like many other poor countries cannot advance GM crop research because their national policies or regulatory systems are not prepared to deal with safety requirement for approving general use.” Joel Cohen of the International Food Policy Research Institute based in Washington DC was reported to have said. Read here.

27 July 2007
Rural Communities Express Dismay: “land grabs” fuelled by Biofuels Strategy
More than sixty people met in Durban on March 5th 2007, to discuss the South African government’s Draft Industrial Biofuels Strategy, which is open for public comment until the end of March. The undersigned NGOs, individuals, farmer organisations and rural communities from KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga who attended the workshop, express our extreme […]

4 November 2006
Contaminated US Rice Must Be Recalled From Africa
African Groups Condemn US Decision To Authorize Illegal GM Rice Sent To Africa Friends of the Earth Africa and the African Center for Biosafety are today urging African countries to monitor US rice imports and to recall all shipments contaminated with GM rice known as LibertyLink601 (LL601). This call follows the confirmation of the presence […]

14 October 2006
South Africa’s Wine Industry Threatened By GM Grapevine Trials
Issued by the African Centre for Biosafety and Earthlife Africa The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) and Earthlife Africa Ethekwini (ELA), are calling on the South African government to reject an application by the Institute for Wine Biotechnology (IWB) based at the University of Stellenbosch, to conduct open- air field trials in South Africa, involving […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

14 May 2004
BT-Maize 176 / Syngenta
Protest letter by the African Centre for Biosafety, the South African Freeze Alliance on Genetic Engineering, Biowatch, and the Safe Food Coalition Demand for a Ban on Imports of Bt176 and for a Public Enquiry into Safety of Food Derived from Genetically Modified Crops African Centre for Biosafety, the South African Freeze Alliance on Genetic […]

20 January 2004
Africa: Dumping ground for rejected GE wheat
On the 19th of January 2004 Monsanto announced it had approached the South African government with permission to import its genetically engineered (GE) wheat, known as Round-up Ready wheat, in an obvious pre-emptive attempt to create a much needed market for its GE wheat, because none exists anywhere in the world. This comes at a […]