Zimbabwe Refuses GM Food Aid

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Monday, 05 August 2002

A row over genetically engineered maize is overshadowing efforts to tackle the famine that threatens the lives of at least 14 million people in several southern African countries.

Negotiations have already been soured by reports that Mugabe's government is denying emergency food aid to people in areas that oppose his government. Andrew Natsios, USAID's administrator, last week warned that food aid would be stopped altogether if this form of political repression continued.

Harare has said that it does not want USAID's maize, despite the spectre of famine looming over six million of its citizens. "The position is that no GM foods are allowed in Zimbabwe," a spokesman at the Zimbabwe High Commission in London told New Scientist earlier this week. "Scientifically, they haven't proven to be safe."

Other countries in the region, such as Malawi and Zambia, have already agreed to accept the maize, although Zambia is setting up an advisory board to monitor the fate of the material. Mozambique, whose ports will receive the material, is wary about having to transport it through its territory.

At the time of publication, it looked likely that a compromise would be reached - milling the maize before distribution, so it cannot be planted. "But it delays things, and that's the problem," says Luis Clemens, a spokesman for the World Food Programme's office in South Africa. "It becomes an issue of timing and cost."

Some charities think the request to mill the maize is reasonable. "We should not [reject] grain even if it's GM, when it's at the expense of people's lives," says Alice Wynne Willson of British charity ActionAid. "But a food crisis should not be used as a bargaining chip for introducing GM technology. People are losing their right to say no because they are hungry."

Both sides were locked in negotiations earlier this week to find a way forward. "Our experts in Harare are waiting for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization to make proposals," said the Zimbabwean spokesman in London.
Source: Andy Coghlan New Scientist 31 July 02
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