Zimbabwe imports 121,000tonnes of GM maize #zimbabwe

ZIMBABWE imported nearly 121 000 metric tonnes of
genetically modified (GM) maize from South Africa between
February and July this year, in contravention of the
country's own biosafety laws, The Herald Business can
reveal. The grain -- enough to feed Zimbabwe's 13 million
citizens for an entire month -- was mainly for food and
processing.
Genetically modified foods are widely considered unsafe for
human consumption. They are suspected of causing or
multiplying the risk of an array of illnesses including
cancers. GMs are produced from seed that has been
doctored in laboratories, supposedly making them resistant
to disease.
Statistics obtained by this paper from South Africa's
Department of Agriculture show that the imports were by
three non-governmental organisations, Louis Dreyfus,
Toepfer International and GAPS.
In February, GAPS imported 50 000mt of maize; Toepfer
International, a German commodity broking firm, 30 000mt
and Louis Dreyfus, a trader of agricultural goods from
Netherlands, imported 9 300mt.
Louis Dreyfus took in a further 7 000mt of the staple in
March; 3 420mt in May and another 7 000mt in June.
For June and July, Toepfer imported a total 13 900mt. The
NGOs were fully aware the maize was genetically modified.
Mariam Mayet, director at the African Centre for Biosafety in
South Africa told Foodmatters Zimbabwe, an online
grouping of agriculture experts, that: "We have been
informing the Zimbabweans about all the exports... "
It is unlikely in the melee of emergency food aid
necessitated by Zimbabwe's chronic food shortages in
recent years, the grain was clearly labelled "GMO", for
consumer purposes.
It also remains unclear how the imports passed through
border control without detection. Government has publicly
stated its policy against the use of genetically modified
organisms (GMs) for food, seed, animal feed or processing.
Repeated efforts to obtain comment from Agriculture
Minister Joseph Made were unfruitful. His deputy, Davis
Mharapira refused to comment saying "talk to the minister.
He is the one handling the issue on GMs."
Dr Made has on numerous occasions in the past made clear
Government's anti-GMs stance.
Fears are that the maize imports may not have been
assessed for risk, leading to contamination with organic
grain. Millions of people could have consumed the
contaminated grain unknowingly.
In Zimbabwe, risk assessment is an obligation under
international agreements such as the Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety and national laws which include the National
Biotechnology Authority Act of 2006.
The Cartagena Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity
from the potential risks posed by genetically modified
organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.
Domestic biosafety laws are vague on the exemption (or
not) of GM imports during food emergency situations.
Countries under the Common Market for East and Southern
Africa, of which Zimbabwe is a member, disallow GMO use,
at any time.
The National Biotechnology Authority of Zimbabwe, which
has been advocating GMO cotton, says on its website:
"biosafety is the protection of human and animal health and
the environment from the possible effects of products of
biotechnology.
"Risk assessment is the evaluation of the likelihood of the
occurrence of an undesirable event. It is science based,
carried out on a case-by-case basis, comparative and
iterative."
However, it is common knowledge that there is no baseline
data on the safety of GMs to the environment and human
health in most African countries of the east and south, hence
no foundation for the assessment of food and feed safety.
The sustained importation of GMs has raised questions on
Government's capacity to monitor and control effectively the
sphere of unregulated genetically modified grain trade.
Zimbabwe's persistent shortages of food in the past decade
have seen numerous non-governmental organisations and
the private sector coming to the rescue of hungry villagers.
This has opened the food industry to possible manipulation,
increasing the risk of GM imports, as a last gap measure to
avert hunger. At least 2,2 million people were estimated to
be in need of food aid last year.
The African Union has recently adopted the revised African
Model Law on Biosafety, which recognises the "potential
adverse effects on the environment, biological diversity and
human health posed by GMs [that] are causing a growing
public concern."