Posted on 28-7-2002

Eat GM Or Starve
By Manoah Esipisu

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Countries facing famine in southern Africa should
accept genetically modified (GMO) food or risk death for millions of its
people, a top U.S. official has said.

A severe food crisis threatens 13 million people in the six countries in
the region -- with Malawi and Zimbabwe the worst hit. The U.N. has appealed
for a million tonnes of food, and traditionally half of the donation comes
from America. "The one issue that has caused the most controversy, and
frankly is causing us the most difficulty, is the issue of so-called
GMO-affected foods," said Roger Winter, assistant administrator at the U.S.
Agency for International Development. "What we are being asked in some
cases to do is to certify that a shipment of maize is GMO-free and that we
are not able to do," Winter told reporters as he wound up a tour of the
region, which took him to Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. "Delay
(on accepting GMOs) is deadly in this. If they delay long, people are going
to die in their countries because there are going to be huge gaps in the
(food) pipeline he said. He said Zimbabwe had previously blocked GMO food
while Zambia had no policy. Only Malawi was ready to take whatever food aid
it got because the only concern was to save lives.

Winter said Zimbabwe had accepted to take in a special consignment of
20,000 tonnes of maize that included GMO foods after USAID gave the country
an August 1 deadline to take it or lose it. But he said that there was no
word on future maize donations and therefore he did not take this to mean a
policy about-turn. Winter hinted that the blockage of GMO-food by Zimbabwe
may be related to tense relations between Washington and Harare. "The
government (of Zimbabwe) wasn't really focused on what the consequences of
not receiving our products might mean," Winter said, acknowledging the sour
relations.

ZAMBIA REJECTS U.S. LOAN

Zambian Vice President Enock Kavindele told Reuters in Lusaka that his
country had declined a $50 million (31 million pounds) line of credit from
the U.S. Department of Agriculture because of provisions that it would have
to purchase GMO commodities.

Governments had began asking fresh questions about health risks related to
GMOs in the region after a recent meeting of ministers of the 14-member
Southern African Development Community in Mozambique, USAID official Lauren
Landis said. Winter said a rejection of GMO food by the region could trim
the U.S. ability to respond to the crisis, which he warned had the
potential to last beyond current projections of March 2003. He also said
that the U.S. and other agencies would set up a monitoring unit to ensure
that relief aid was not abused. It followed reports that in some areas of
Zimbabwe, the government was using relief as a weapon against opposition
supporters.

Experts have warned of lower crop harvests in Southern Africa and a medical
crisis in the region after the 2002 drought. Agri-meteorologist Johan van
den Berg, of the Envirovision Consultancy, said a weak to moderate climate
disruption expected during the next southern summer could trim Southern
African grain harvests, but might boost crops in drought-ravaged areas in
the region. The latest seasonal forecast pointed to a maize crop 10 to 30
percent lower next year than this year, van den Berg said.

In Swaziland, a WHO meeting was warned of a malaria crisis in the
post-drought period and health leaders were asked to be ready. Mosquitoes
would move in large large numbers and transmission andincidents of malaria
would accelerate when rains fell, Dr Shiva Marugasampillay from Zimbabwe
told a World Health Organisation Southern Africa malaria conference.