African Scientist Criticizes EU’s Opposition to GM Crops
31 October 2011 Dr. Felix M’mboyi , former agricultural adviser to the Kenyan government and head of the African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum, told Farm Chemicals International at this week’s CropWorld Global event in London that the EU’s policy toward GM crops may threaten Africa’s food security.
“As much as Africa wants to adopt GM technology to feed ourselves, Europe has a strong influence on what policies we make to preserve trade,” he told FCI. “The position that the EU has taken has forced African governments to be very conservative on what we are allowed to cultivate.”
The EU has a so-called zero-tolerance policy on GM material it has not authorized in imported crops, which limits Africa’s options as it tries to feed itself as well as a world population that reached 7 billion this week.
In an article appearing last week in the UK-based newspaper The Observer, M’mboyi called on policy makers to make the necessary changes so Africa can boost yields in the face of the food crisis in the Horn of Africa.
“This kind of hypocrisy and arrogance comes with the luxury of a full stomach,” he told the paper.
There are 40-plus GMOs authorized in the EU for food and feed uses, but six member states – Austria, France, Greece, Hungary, Germany and Luxembourg – have invoked a safeguard clause that bans the cultivation of GM crops in those countries.
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