Press Release from biotech industry to parlay hearings-Hans Wors at it again. SAFE GMOs A TOOL TO FEED GLOBAL POPULATION OF 10 BILLION By Hans Lombard Recommendations made to the parliamentary committee for agriculture, forestry and fisheries by the African Centre for BioSafety (ACB) during a briefing to overturn the GMO Executive Council’s approval of grain commodity import of Dow’s 2,4-D crops on the grounds of detrimental effects on human health as a carcinogen risk, claiming that the safety of GMO crops was a major concern, were met with strong opposition from the Agricultural Biotechnology Industry (ABI) during the same briefing. ABI rejected these ludicrous claims with sound, substantiated scientific data. Without providing substantiated peer reviewed scientific or medical data to support their claims, the ACB turned science into a circus. The ABI highlighted the use of biotechnology, GMOs, as safe as conventional food, to combat constraints in crops in order to improve yield, alleviate poverty and provide a sustainable food security for a growing population. It was emphasized that the regulatory framework of South Africa could be trusted to make decisions that were safe for the populace. Mr. Corey Pickelsimer, senior agricultural attaché, US Embassy, Pretoria, briefed the Committee that GM technologies currently available or well advanced in the pipeline are a vital tool in the toolbox needed to feed, on a sustainable basis, a global population approaching 10 billion people. “The question is whether farmers will be permitted to use this new technology. While affluent nations can afford to adopt ultra low-risk positions, and pay more for food produced by the so-called “organic” methods, the one billion chronically undernourished people of low income, food-deficit nations cannot,” Pickelsimer said. As far as the safety of GM crops to date is concerned, he quoted ten leading international independent scientific and medical institutions, privately funded, not by industry, with substantiated scientific and medical research stating that: “We have found no new risks to human health or the environment from GMOs approved by regulators so far.” The institutions are: · Research Directorate General of the European Union (2001) · French Academy of Sciences (2002) · French Academy of Medicine (2002) · Royal Society of UK (2003) · British Medical Association (2004) · Union of German Academies of Science and Humanities (2004) · Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (2000) · Director General of World Health Organization (2002) · International Council for Science (ICSU) (2003) · Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (2004) Pickelsimer emphasized that 2,4-D has been used for more than 60 years in more than 75 countries worldwide and is currently the second most widely used herbicide in the world. (It has been established from reliable government sources that the government has no intention of revoking its decision on the approval of Dows commodity import of 2,4-D. – Hans Lombard) Mr. Hennie Groenewald, executive manager, Biosafety South Africa, briefed the Committee that genetically modified technology, GMOs, is one of the options that can provide Africa with food security. Independent African Science Academies which have proved the safety of the technology can contribute towards ensuring the sustainability of GM products. “These products are safe, relevant, accessible, acceptable and profitable,” he said. African governments, he continued, should increase investments in R&D and relevant technological innovations in agriculture to boost production and food security. They should create a positive investment climate for the private sector to participate in. An emergent smallholder farmer, Ms. Tepsy Ntseoane, a mother of two, from Emfuleni Municipality in the Sebideng district, told the committee of her success as an emergent farmer growing genetically modified Bt maize. Previously, she planted 100 hectares of conventional maize on dry land. Her yield was a disappointing 2-3t/ha that was devastated by the stalk borer. Two years ago she was introduced to Bt maize and planted two hectares on dry land. Her yield was 7t/ha with much higher quality maize. My total yield was 14 tons on two hectares. To achieve this with conventional maize I would have needed seven hectares. At the current price of R3000/t my income was R42 000. I feed my cattle, chickens and family on Bt maize and we are very healthy. Any surplus I sell provides me with extra disposable income to expand my farming operations. GM maize has already shown that it can contribute to food security. In 1998, when GM maize was first introduce in South Africa, the average yield on dry land was 2.73t/ha. In 2008 GM yield had increased to 5.09t/ha – a productivity increase of 81% -- a positive impact on food security,” she said. Dr. Bongani Maseko, project manger for AfricaBio, told the Committee that AfricaBio is playing a major role in collaboration with provincial agricultural departments to educate and demonstrate to smallholder farmers the benefits of Bt maize. This has been met with great success. Over the past ten years, numerous demonstration plots of conventional and Bt maize planted side by side in different areas where Bt showed a significant yield increase through eliminating the stalk borer, which caused yield losses of up to 75%. Consequently hundreds of smallholder farmers have now adopted the GMO technology and improved their lives and food security. END
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 13:45:59 +0000