** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
Only Africa's wise man, Thabo Mbeki, can see the havoc that Monsanto
Environmental terrorists are wreaking on environments in Africa and
elsewhere on the globe.
"In the meantime at the end of 2005, South Africa adopted a moratorium
on new
GM crops pending a study by the Department of Trade and Industry.
The moratorium on new GM crops in South Africa sends a clear signal of
the
failure of GM crops in our continent. GM cotton in South Africa did not
solve our farmers problems, on the contrary it has contributed to
increase
their indebtedness. The rest of African countries where > Monsanto is
promoting Bt cotton should learn from our experience".
PETER W.VAKUNTA
DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON
602 VAN HISE HALL
1220 LINDEN DRIVE
MADISON WI 53706-1525
U.S.A
Office 608 262 4067
Home 608 422 6089
Cell 608 381 0407
"The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of the wise man is
in his heart."
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
----- Original Message -----
From: Annmarie Dawson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, January 12, 2006 7:33 pm
Subject: [AAM] GM crops fail to deliver benefits to Africa
To: "AAM (African Association of Madison)" <[log in to unmask]>,
AAM Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
> GM crops fail to deliver benefits to Africa
> Johannesburg, South Africa
> 10 January 2006 01:14
> http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?
articleid=260937&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__business/
>
> Ten years after the first significant planting of genetically
> modified (GM)
> crops there are no apparent benefits for consumers, farmers or the
> environment, a report made public on Tuesday said.
>
> The Johannesburg-based African Centre for Biosafety and Friends of
> the Earth
> Nigeria, based in Lagos, said that despite the promises of the
> biotech
> corporations there had been no impact on hunger and poverty.
>
> The 100-page report "Who benefits from GM crops? Monsanto and its
> corporate
> driven genetically modified crop revolution" concludes that the
> increase in
> GM crops in a limited number of countries has largely been the
> result of the
> aggressive strategies of the biotech industry, rather than the
> consequence
> of benefits derived from using GM technology.
>
> "Contrary to the promises made by the biotech industry, the
> reality of the
> last ten years shows that the safety of GM crops cannot be ensured
> and that
> these crops are neither cheaper nor better quality. Biotech crops
> are not a
> solution to solve hunger in Africa or elsewhere," said Nnimmo
> Bassey of
> Friends of the Earth Nigeria.
>
> He added the biotech industry continues to claim, misleadingly,
> that GM
> crops play a role in solving world hunger in Africa and the
> world's largest
> producer of GM seeds, Monsanto Company, holds an oppressive
> influence over
> agriculture and food policies in many countries and international
> bodies.
> Bassey said several Western African governments had been under
> "substantial
> pressure" in recent years to introduce GM cotton.
>
> In the meantime at the end of 2005, South Africa adopted a
> moratorium on new
> GM crops pending a study by the Department of Trade and Industry.
>
> "The moratorium on new GM crops in South Africa sends a clear
> signal of the
> failure of GM crops in our continent. GM cotton in South Africa
> did not
> solve our farmers problems, on the contrary it has contributed to
> increase
> their indebtedness. The rest of African countries where > Monsanto
> is
> promoting Bt cotton should learn from our experience".
>
> The new report states that:
>
> * GM crops in Africa will not solve hunger. Most GM crops
> commercialised so far are destined for animal feed, not for food,
> and none
> have been introduced to address hunger and poverty. GM Bt cotton
> in South
> Africa's Makhathini Flats has been widely promoted by Monsanto as
> an African
> small farmer/GM success story and a solution to poverty. However,
> since
> 2000 the number of Bt cotton farmers in South Africa has lessened,
> many of
> them incurring losses and defaulting on their loans, raising
> strong
> questions about the impact of GMOs on poverty reduction.
>
> * GM sweet potato in Kenya was presented as a key GM crop to
> help African
> agriculture. However by the end of January 2004, and more than $10-
> million
> later, the results of the trials were quietly published in Kenya,
> showing
> that none of the claims were true. The results revealed that the
> non-GM
> sweet potatoes had yielded significantly more than the GM variety.
>
> * A moratorium in South Africa. In November 2005, despite
> having
> introduced GM crops in several hundred thousand hectares, the
> South African
> government communicated that it had placed a moratorium on import
> approvals,
> pending the outcome of a socio-economic study by the Department of
> Trade and
> Industry.
>
> * GM crops are not "green". Monsanto's Roundup Ready soybeans,
> the most
> extensively grown GM crop today, has led to an increase in
> herbicide use.
> Independent reports from the US show that since 1996, GM corn,
> soybean and
> cotton have led to an increase in pesticide use of > 55-million
> kilogrammes.
> The intensive cultivation of soybeans in South America
> contributes to
> deforestation, and has been associated with a decline in soil
> fertility and
> soil erosion.
>
> After ten years of GM crop cultivation more than 80% of the
> area
> cultivated with biotech crops is still concentrated in only three
> countries:
> the US, Argentina and Canada.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> aam mailing list
> [log in to unmask]
>
http://africanassociation.org/mailman/listinfo/aam_africanassociation.or
g
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, visit:
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/aam.html
AAM Website: http://www.africanassociation.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
