GM FOOD: U.S. ‘Playing with Hunger’
A new report highlighting the United
States' promotion of GM food as food aid,
'Playing with Hunger'
WASHINGTON / BENIN CITY (NIGERIA), May 23,
2003 -- Food aid has now become controversial
on four continents because of U.S.
Genetically Modified (GM) food donations,
according to a new report* released by
Friends of the Earth International today.
In a letter and the report released today,
Friends of the Earth demanded that the U.S.
stop using hunger as a political and
marketing tool to benefit big
agri-business.
In May 2003 the U.S. Congress has passed
legislation tying AIDS assistance to
acceptance of Genetically Modified Organisms,
or GMOs [i]. At the same time, the U.S. has
also filed a case at the World Trade
Organization against the European Union
moratorium on GMOs.
“The U.S. should stop playing with hunger.
Having attempted to use USAID’s famine relief
programme to dump unwanted GM maize in
Southern Africa they are now resorting to
even more unacceptable methods. African
nations should have the right to decide what
their people are fed. It is immoral for the
U.S. to exploit famine and the AIDS crisis in
this way,” said Nnimmo Bassey, Director of
Environmental Rights Action / Friends of the
Earth-Nigeria.
Controversy over genetically modified food
aid arose in 2000 and grew increasingly in
2002, whenseveral Southern African countries
refused GM food aid during a food crisis.
African countries were presented with a
situation where either they accepted GMOs or
many people would die. Several countries --
like Mozambique and Zimbabwe -- rejected GM
corn due to environmental concerns, but
accepted milled GM corn. Only Zambia decided
to reject GM corn in both grain and milled
forms, citing health concerns. Several
initial reports coming from Zambia suggest
that the country has so far been able to cope
with the food crisis without GM food aid.
The recently announced World Trade
Organization (WTO) case filed by the U.S.
against the EU underscores a renewed
controversy. The U.S. is again blaming the EU
moratorium on GMOs as being the cause of
African rejection of GM food aid. [ii]
However, the EU recently strongly rejected
such accusations. [iii]
There are also concerns that a U.S. AIDS
spending legislation bill which passed the US
Senate May 15th and earlier passed the House
includes a GMO amendment which ties AIDS
assistance to acceptance of GMOs. [i]
Friends of the Earth International’s
report released today and entitled “Playing
with Hunger”, presents a compilation of case
studies related to the shipment of GMOs in
food aid to four continents since the year
2000.
It concludes that the controversy over GM
food aid during the Southern Africa crisis
should have been anticipated by the U.N.
World Food Programme (WFP) and the United
States Agency for International Development
(USAID). Both agencies have been aware since
2000 of the problems and controversies over
food aid and GMOs, and should have guaranteed
real alternatives to GM food aid to the
countries in need.
A letter urging the USAID and the WFP to
take the necessary steps to guarantee that in
the future GMOs are not forced, via food aid,
to any country was sent today by Friends of
the Earth. According to Nnimmo Bassey, “There
were alternatives to GMOs but African
countries were left without a choice. This
should not happen again. We call on the World
Food Programme and other donors to ensure
they will always make available real
alternatives in the future.”
The report also gives more evidence about
cynical US policy over GM food aid, and
criticizes the food aid system. Ricardo
Navarro, Salvadorean chairman of Friends of
the Earth International said: “Food aid is
being used, particularly by the US, as a
marketing tool to capture new markets. Big
agribusinesses are huge beneficiaries of the
current food aid system. There is a need for
stricter regulation of food aid to prevent it
from being used as a way to open up new
markets for GM products.”
Today’s report was released exactly one
month ahead of an international summit on
agriculture due from June 23-25, 2003 in
Sacramento (US). The United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA), USAID, and the US
State Department are hosting the summit to
which Ministers of Trade, Agriculture, and
Environment from 180 nations have been
invited. It is expected that this
‘Ministerial Conference and EXPO on
Agricultural Science and Technology’ will be
used by the US government to promote GM crops
in developing countries. The USDA and USAID
are in charge of managing some of the world’s
largest food aid programmes.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
* : The report is available for download
at the Friends of the Earth International
website : www.foei.org/publications/gmo
THIS REPORT IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01
AM (GMT) ON MAY 23, 2003
[i] 1 H.R.1298 United States Leadership
Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
Act of 2003 passed the Senate on May 15th. To
view full text of the bill Go to
Congressional record:
http://thomas.loc.gov/r108/r108.html
, Click on Daily Digest, May 15, and
afterwards click on Senate passed H.R.1298,
United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS,
Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act. Then click on
the last version, Section 104a
[ii] Zoellick, R. May 14th. Transcript:
USTR says WTO biotech ban case aims to quell
fears. “This dangerous effect of the EU’s
moratorium became painfully evident last fall
when some famine-stricken African countries
refused US food aid because of fabricated
fears stoked by irresponsible rhetoric about
food safety”.
[iii] European Commission. May 2003.
European Commission regrets US Decision to
file WTO Case on GMOs as misguided and
unnecessary. The EU has rejected US arguments
over the EU responsibility during the African
food crisis. They said: “food aid to starving
populations should be about meeting the
urgent humanitarian needs of those who are in
need. It should not be about trying to
advance the case for GM food abroad, or
planting GM crops for export, or indeed
finding outlets for domestic surplus, which
is a regrettable of the US food aid
policy”
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
In Nigeria (Africa)
Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director Friends of
the Earth Nigeria
Tel: + 234-52-600165 or +234-80-23176577
E-mail: eraction@infoweb.abs.net
In El Salvador (Central America)
Ricardo Navarro, Chairman Friends of the
Earth International.
Tel: +503-2200046 or +503-2206480
E-mail: foeichair@navegante.com.sv
In Washington (U.S.),
Larry Bohlen, Friends of the Earth US
Tel: + 1-202-783-7400 ext. 251
E-mail: lbohlen@foe.org
In Brussels (Belgium),
Juan Lopez, Friends of the Earth
International
Tel: +32-2-5420180 or +32-477-391496
E-mail: juan.lopez@foeeurope.org
|
