Hunger, food aid and GMOs

• it restricts their right to choose
• it allows GM grains to be planted in countries with neither biosafety regulations nor the capacity to deal with GM crops, increasing the risk of genetic contamination
• it may endanger agricultural ecosystems
• any potential health danger or nutritional deficiency presented by GM foods might increase when they are consumed by an immune-depressed population such as one suffering from a lack of food.

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In May 2002, Bolivian civil society groups discovered gm maize not authorized for human consumption in the US in US food aid.

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* africa and central america unite to reject gm food aid
Civil society groups in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean have joined together to denounce the presence of GMOs in food aid being distributed by the World Food Programme (WFP). The group has urged the WFP to immediately recall all the food aid containing GMOs. The demand came after laboratory tests proved the presence of GMOs in more than 80 percent of samples of maize and soy taken from food aid and commercial imports distributed in Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. StarLink – a genetically modified maize banned for human consumption in the US – was found in food aid sent to Central America. Laboratory results showing presence of StarLink are at: www.humboldt.org.ni/transgenicos/docs/resultados_ogm.pdf
The statement by the groups is at www.humboldt.org.ni/transgenicos/denuncia_english.htm
More information in the press release and the article: "Environmentalists claim modified corn included in U.N. aid" by global news agency Associated Press

FoE Nicaraguaa hosted the second International Conference on Food Aid and GMOs near Managua in April 2005. The program included strategic consultations, scientific training, an open conference, a meeting for Friends of the Earth GMO coordinators and a training for FoE groups on testing methodologies. Nnimmo Bassey of FoE Nigeria reported that FoE groups in Central America are making excellent progress in GMO monitoring and testing and in alliance building, and local communities are increasingly declaring themselves GMO free. The third International Conference on Food Aid, Hunger and GMOs will be held in Africa next year.

• African countries say no to force-fed gm food .

• GM won't cure hunger in africa: interview with dr. tewolde behran egziabher .

• more information in the foei publication "playing with hunger, the reality behind the shipment of gmos as food aid", the press release and the briefing

• read the fact sheet about the us food-aid

• World food summit: illegal gmos found in food aid sent to developing countries

• "President Bush Should Stop Telling Us What to Eat" by nnimmo bassey and lawrence bohlen.

genetically modified crops, a decade of failure publication