Dear Melanie 1. I am writing to you from African Centre for Biosafety (ACB), a non-profit organisation, based in Johannesburg. We provide authoritative, credible, relevant and current information, research and policy analysis in issues pertaining to food and agriculture in South Africa, with special reference to the application of modern biotechnology in agriculture. 2. We have listened with great interest to the Monsanto advertisement oppt-sa.wikidot/monsanto:monsanto-advertising-on-radio-702-2013-07-31-09h05 aired on your radio show. We are taken aback by the claims made by Monsanto to the following effect: that GM crops reduce the use of pesticides and produce higher yields. 3. We find these claims to be spurious, unsubstantiated and completely detached from the day to day realities of our agricultural system. 4. To state that GM crops will lead to a decrease in pesticide use is an extra-ordinary claim to make, considering that 85% of the GM crops grown worldwide are engineered to be tolerant to chemical herbicides. In the United States, independent research has revealed that the introduction of GM crops resulted in a net increased application of over 144,000 tons of pesticides from 1996 to 2009. Brazil, now the world’s second largest GM crops producer, passed its biosafety law in 2005. From 2006 to 2012 pesticide sales increased by a staggering 72%, with Roundup Ready soybeans now accounting for 48% of all pesticides consumed in Brazil. 5. We appear to be aping these trends here in South Africa. Over half of our GM maize is now herbicide tolerant and domestic glyphosate use has rocketed accordingly, from 12 million litres in 2006, to 20 million litres at present! In addition, between 2007 and 2011 glyphosate imports increased by 177%.This is particularly disturbing in the case of South Africa, as it is clear that our food safety authorities do not have the capacity to adequately monitor pesticide residue levels in our food. 6. Any farmer worth his or her salt will attest to a multitude of factors influencing yield, including soil health, seed genetics, the availability of inputs (whether chemical or organic), pest management practices and climatic conditions. Thus, correlating an increase in GM seed adoption with increased yields does not stand up to scrutiny. In fact, the latest available data from the Crop Estimates Committee shows that the average yield for this year’s maize crop is at its lowest level since 2007, despite a huge increase in adoption of GM maize in the interim. 7. What Monsanto has failed to mention, conveniently, is the pest infestation that has plagued GM maize fields since 2004. The stalk borer-the very insect the maize has been engineered to resist/tolerate, has evolved resistance to Monsanto’s GM maize (MON 810) to such an extent, that it has been reported as catastrophic. Monsanto has footed the bill for the insecticides needed to keep the infestation under control on farmers’ fields. One only needs to read Professor Johnnie van den Berg’s peer reviewed studies on this phenomenon. Monsanto has abandoned MON 810 and has introduced a new GM variety with 2 transgenes to deal with the stalk borer. The stalk borer will develop resistance to this new variety also in time, necessitating more insecticides to be sprayed and a new GM variety to be introduced and so the treadmill will continue in an ecologically unsustainable manner. 8. In the light of the above, we have come to the conclusion that Monsanto’s advertisement is false and misleading. We ask that you immediately remove the ad, unless Monsanto is able to provide externally produced, independent data to substantiate its claims, which we know, does not exist. 9. Should you fail to remove the ad, we will have no choice but to lodge a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa. 10. We would like to bring to your attention, the extent of the public outrage at being force fed with GM food. Please see our petition site, calling for urgent parliamentary hearings on GM decision making, and take a look at some of the comments made by ordinary South Africans: acbio.org.za/activist 11. Finally, Redi has been the only person at 702 who has treated those of us against GMOs with respect. John Robbie has dismissed us and in fact has made a mockery of us and ridiculed us on one of his morning shows. It is worth noting that 80% of our white maize is GM. The maize milled flour on the shelves, consumed by our people on a daily basis as a staple food, is GM. There is no choice even if we had wonderful labelling laws. We have tested these products. They all contain GM. Force feeding the nation without their knowledge and consent GM maize is a form of food fascism. Kind regards Mariam Mayet Director African Centre for Biosafety
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 18:35:09 +0000
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