www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

The U.S. may push Africa to accept gene-altered (GMO) food now that the
World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled the EU broke rules by barring GMO
foods and seeds, but Africans vowed to resist February 2006 by Shapi
Shacinda.

"We do not want GM (genetically modified) foods and our hope is that all
of us can continue to produce non-GM foods," Zambian Agriculture Minister
Mundia Sikatana told Reuters in Lusaka.

"It (the WTO decision) does not change our position. Our position is based
on scientific evidence and information available to us. That is the best way
to assure the Kenyan public that it is something that they can consume,"
Kenyan Agriculture Minister Kipruto arap Kirwa told Reuters.

The WTO ruled on Tuesday that the European Union and six member states had
broken trade rules by barring entry to genetically modified crops and foods.

A U.S. trade official confirmed findings of the preliminary ruling,
contained in a confidential report sent only to the parties. The closely
watched verdict addressed a complaint brought against the EU by leading GMO
producers the United States, Argentina and Canada.

The European Union's opponents asserted that the moratorium, which Brussels
argued was never official, hurt their exports and was not based on science.

Manufacturers of the biotech seeds, designed to increase yields and resist
pests better than normal seeds, maintain they are safe for human
consumption.

European consumers, fearing the effects of "Frankenstein foods" have
resisted them. Even African countries facing food shortages, such as Zambia,
have refused to accept gene-altered food donations, arguing their safety had
not been ascertained.

Those countries that take in GMO-food demand stringent certifications and
milling before it arrives on their borders.

Regional heavyweight South Africa is one of the few countries on the
continent to embrace the controversial technology.

Signal to rest of the world

Campaigners and analysts saw the U.S. using the World Trade Organization
ruling to press Africans to accept GMO food imports on the basis that
Europe, which has usually backed the obstinate African position, will itself
have to take them.

"There is a serious warning there to Africa not to restrict acess to U.S.,
Canadian and Argentian markets. But I think it has the potential to increase
resistance to GMOs in Africa and elsewhere," Leslie Liddell, director of
Biowatch South Africa, told Reuters in Johannesburg.

"Politically, I think it is very clear that the U.S. will try and use this
case to force GMOs into African markets. American industry is already saying
that the result is a signal to the rest of the world," Daniel Mittler, trade
adviser at Greenpeace International, added.

UK charity Save the Children said it believed a distinction should be made
between GM-food for commercial purposes and for food aid. With packaging and
labelling regulations, a European consumer could choose whether to purchase
GM food, it added.

"It is a very different situation for a villager in Southern Africa who
lacks the money to make a choice, and has to choose between GM food aid or
hunger," the charity said.

"Save the Children UK believes that people needing outside support are
entitled to choice and dignity, and therefore donors should respect that
right by providing food aid - or the finance to buy food - in a form that is
locally acceptable," it added.

Africans argue that better technology to increase irrigation, more
widespread use of fertilisers and pesticides, and improved monitoring of
market trends will help deliver improved harvests and defeat hunger.

But Zambian minister Sikatana said there was no looking back: "We made a
decision based on facts and those facts have not changed. We hope no one in
Africa feels they have to change their views based on that ruling, it will
not do."

[za.today.reuters.com]

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