Zambia
US govt criticises Zambian GM food rejection

afrol News, 31 October - The US State Department has issued a statement, strongly criticising Zambia's continued rejection of genetically manipulated (GM) food aid. "We believe this decision is likely to place the citizens of Zambia at greater risk of starvation," the US government says.

The United States government yesterday said it "deeply regrets that the government of Zambia has chosen not to accept the food aid we have offered." Substantial amounts of food aid, channelled through UN agencies such as the World Food Programme (WFP), this week again was rejected by Zambia, as it contains GM food that could be harmful to the environment, agriculture and maybe people, the Zambian government holds.

- We believe that, the US statements goes, "in making this decision, the government of Zambia has disregarded the scientific evidence regarding the safety of the food for human consumption and is rejecting the advice of international relief organisations, governments around the world, and the European Commission, that accepting this safe maize to feed its hungry people would help avert human catastrophe." 

Although GM food is prohibited all over the world except in the US and Canada, the extraordinary drought and food crisis in Southern Africa has led traditional opponents of GM food, such as the EU, to state that this food aid not poses any dangers for human consumption. UN agencies, which depend by up to 75 percent of US food donations, have given their full support to the US view.

The US government therefore said remained "concerned that significant numbers of impoverished Zambians face serious food shortages. We stand ready to provide US food assistance to those in need, should the government of Zambia reverse its decision and accept our help." 

Indeed, the Americans were to "continue to offer US food aid to Zambia each time it arrives in the southern Africa region. We will keep our lines of communication open to ensure a prompt response should the situation change. We will also maintain our forward-looking program of assistance focused on the recovery of Zambian agriculture, and other non-food assistance to the people of Zambia."

Also WFP this week complained that its work to assist the millions of hunger-affected Zambians has become "more difficult" due to the continued ban of GM food in the country. Due to the "final government policy decision on the acceptance of GM foods and due to the lag time required for new purchases to arrive in country," the UN agency expected "the Zambia pipeline" to become "fragile for the coming months."

Environmental groups, on the other hand, have denounced the US and UN rhetoric as "a vigorous propaganda war". As long as supplies of non-genetically engineered grain exist, "nobody should be forced to eat genetically engineered (GE) grain against their will, a Greenpeace statement says.

The group holds that the Bush administration has joined up with industry to propagate the need for GM food. "But is the US government acting out of concern for the starving of Africa, or acting on behalf of a multinational industry with a sales and image problem?" Greenpeace asks. It answers that GM food was being "forced on Africa because the US can't sell them abroad, has an economic interest in reducing its grain surplus, chooses to deny the existence of non-GE grain supplies, and is developing a deep imperial disdain for the opinions and laws of other countries which contradict their own interests." 

This is rejected by the US government, which says it is assisting "in every way we can to prevent starvation among millions of people throughout southern Africa, who face devastating shortages of food, and we call on other donors to do the same." 

More than 1 million metric tons of food assistance is needed for this region through March 2003, and over 430,000 metric tons of this need is still unmet. The US government has donated the majority of existing food aid to meet the crisis on the sub-continent.

- The task of making up this shortfall, and getting the food to those who need it, particularly those in remote areas, is an enormous undertaking that will require a concerted effort by the international community, the US government recalls. "The situation is dire, getting worse, and spreading elsewhere in Africa, to the Horn of Africa in particular. People have already begun to succumb to starvation. Time is running out." 

Sources: Based on US govt, Greenpeace, Zambian govt and afrol archives

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