Biowatch South Africa welcomes the decision by the French government to put a hold on Monsanto’s MON 810 genetically modified (GM) maize which trades as YieldGard - one of several indications that confidence in GM crops is on the wane.

The decision follows re-evaluation of MON 810 by a French government-appointed panel of experts. The panel was concerned that wind-borne pollen from MON 810 could travel much further than previously thought and that the GM maize affected insects, a species of earthworm and micro-organisms.

Naturally, the GM industry is annoyed by the decision and has pointed to reported differences of opinion among panel members.

But other countries, such as Austria, Greece and Hungary, have also barred MON 810 GM maize. And consumers even in the United States of America – the world’s leading GM crop producer – are increasingly indicating a preference for non-GM food.

South Africa’s GM regulators approved MON 810 (YieldGard) for commercial growing and import as food and animal feed in 1997. Unlike a number of other countries, South Africa has no compulsory labelling of food containing GM ingredients. This means South African consumers have little choice in whether to eat these novel foods whose long-term effects on human health are not known and which some studies have shown they harm the environment.

Nevertheless, consumers even here appear to be showing increasing interest in non-GM and organic food and products. A clear indication of this is the move by major South African retailers to stock organic products and to back organic agriculture.

The latest such move is from Woolworths, ComMark, Cotton SA and Organic Exchange, an international charitable organisation promoting organic agriculture which this month announced plans to source organic cotton locally. This will involve pilot plots in North West, Limpopo, the Eastern Cape and the Makhathini Flats in KwaZulu Natal where GM crops (cotton) first gained a foothold in South Africa.

South African consumers are also becoming more vigilant about misleading advertising from the GM industry and the Advertising Standards Authority of SA has twice ordered Monsanto SA – local offshoot of the USA-based multinational agrochemical and seed company –to withdraw adverts promoting GM food as safe.

The South African government should do more to follow the precautionary approach being adopted by its key trading partners.
ENDS

For more information, please contact Biowatch South Africa director Leslie Liddell on
021-447 5939 or 073 307 8873

http://www.biowatch.org.za/main.asp?show=58