Battle looms over GM foods
2010-03-12 11:06
Cape Town - The battle lines have been drawn over genetically modified foods as advocates and opponents argue that they are right.
"The problem is many fold and there are safety concerns. We need to make people aware of the hazards of this technology," advocacy group SafeAge's Fahrie Hassan told News24. "Because we're not sure of the safety of these GMOs (genetically modified organisms), we advocate the precautionary principle," he added.
Monsanto, owner of a large number of genetic patents in SA, issued a statement saying that GM foods were safe, resulted in increased yields for farmers, and a reduction in the use of herbicides.
According to the company, GM products are as safe as conventional foods and there is no documented case of illness or harm associated with GM crops.
Hassan said his job was to make people aware of the "hazards of the technology" and while he agreed that GM foods were rigorously tested, he strongly disagreed with the claim that they were safe.
Safety
"There have been various studies by NGOs, published by scientists in peer reviewed journals, that indicate significant safety concerns with GMOs," he said.
"There have been no studies on the effect of GM food on human beings and so nobody can make a claim either way," he added.
However, Professor Jennifer Thompson of UCT, said that GM food was safe for consumption.
"Yes, of course they (GM foods) are safe. In terms of their safety, no other food has ever been tested as stringently as GM food," she told News24.
She blasted the argument of testing the GM products of people.
"That's an appallingly poor argument. It's not ethical to feed people food that's being tested," she said. "The problem is that some people say 'No' to everything. It scares people."
In April 2009, the African Centre for Biosafety wrote an open letter to Minister of Agriculture Lulama Xingwana, urging her to ban all GMOs.
Failures
"In April 2009, the African Centre for Biosafety learnt that three of Monsanto's genetically modified maize varieties had failed to pollinate, leaving up to 200 000 hectares of mielie fields barren across several provinces. We were informed that the varieties that flopped were Monsanto's MON 810, NK 603 and its stacked GM maize MON 810 x NK 603," it said in a statement.
Thompson said she had no knowledge of these failures, but speculated what the reasons could be.
"I haven't heard of those failures, but there are several reasons why a crop could fail and I would need to understand what mitigating factors there may be," she said.
"There could be a specific trait, or pest that has different concentrations in particular areas. One cannot make a judgement unless you study it on a case by case basis."
Hassan insisted that the technology had a negative impact on particularly poor farmers because of they have to buy the seed every season.
"It's not benefit to farmers because they cannot save their seed. There are royalty agreements on some crops and every year, they've got to buy seed. If a crop fails, the farmers carries the risk, even though Monsanto advertisers better yields on their website," he said.
Natural
He conceded that his organisation had lost the battle to prevent GM food from being introduced into SA, but said that they engaged in lobbying the department of trade and industry to enforce labelling on GMOs.
Thompson also said that GM food was a new technology, but slammed critics' claims of it being unnatural.
"That's ridiculous," she said. "Agriculture hasn't been natural in 100 years."