March 9, 2010

Report on GM crops slammed by South Africa biosafety group

A report on genetically modified (GM) crops, to be published this week, has been slammed by the African Centre of Biosafety (ABC).

The ABC said the report by the industry-sponsored International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) would present impressive figures showing a ballooning number of hectares planted to GM crops globally, including South Africa.

It would also show that South African farmers were growing 1.8 million hectares of GM corn, soy and cotton.

"These numbers appear impressive – as long as one does not look too closely," the ABC said.

It said ISAAA's report with regard to SA's expansion of GM plantings relied on data provided by FoodNCropBio, a private consultancy firm in South Africa which supplied services to the biotech industry.

"FoodNCropBio's figures are difficult to verify as there is no official record keeping by the government on the number of hectares grown to GM crops in the country," the ABC said.

According to the Crops Estimates Committee, the non-segregation of GM and non-GM grains at silos made the keeping of separate records impossible.

The ABC said the ISAAA's report was "ominously silent" about the crop failures that took place in South Afirica during the 2008-09 season.

"These failures were caused by Monsanto's GM varieties, MON 810, NK 603 and MON 810 x NK 603," the ABC said.

These GM varieties failed to pollinate, leaving up to 200,000 hectares of corn fields barren, according to the ABC.