As Africa becomes the latest battleground for GMOs, many a one-sided opinion piece led by pro-GMO scientists, companies and lobbies across Africa are driving an agenda to push national lawmakers to pass favourable legislations which could potentially disenfranchise small stakeholder farmers. The continent currently lacks a clear consensus on GMOs regulation and this could potentially undermine their impact on food security and our fragile ecosystems. As has been argued elsewhere, perhaps a centralised regulatory approach similar to that which pertains in Europe could be the answer to control the industry. Africa needn’t be the dumping ground for predatory biotech Monsanto-like zombie seeds. Time to think strategically on localized biodiversity, biosafety and bioengineering practices.
Check these links below if you care to find out more about GMOs:
- http://www.acbio.org.za/index.php/publications/rest-of-africa
- http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/spring01/denlinger/problems.html
- http://unu.edu/publications/articles/are-transgenic-crops-safe-gm-agriculture-in-africa.html
- http://www.scidev.net/global/gm/news/call-for-single-body-to-regulate-gmos-across-africa.html
- http://sitemaker.umich.edu/africa.gmo/introduction
- http://www.naturalnews.com/042187_monsanto_gmo_crops_africa.html#
- http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/20058-why-african-farmers-do-not-want-gmos
- http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/programs/conservation-and-development/gmo-fears-overblown/
- http://www.cfr.org/agricultural-policy/regulation-gmos-europe-united-states-case-study-contemporary-european-regulatory-politics/p8688
- http://korbelreport.wordpress.com/2013/10/03/should-we-fear-the-gmo/
- http://pulitzercenter.org/blog/untold-stories/africas-hunger-hardships-spur-biotech-debate
- http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=294983
- http://www.myjoyonline.com/opinion/2013/December-12th/otokunors-lens-gmos-the-fears-facts-politics-economics-and-the-future-part-i.php
- http://permaculturenews.org/2011/07/07/kenyans-demand-a-stop-to-gmo-food-imports/