- Back
to Home
Press Release
-
For Immediate Release
September 3, 2002
Contact: Mark Helm, 202-783-7400
x 102
Friends of the Earth
Groups in Developing Countries Set Bush Administration Straight
on Genetically Engineered Food Aid
Nigerian Environmental
Advocate Calls Bush Administration Actions "Devious Politics"
-
Washington, DC; Johannesburg,
South Africa - Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) today
declared pressure by the Bush Administration on African nations
to accept genetically engineered food aid irresponsible political
maneuvering to advance the interests of multibillion-dollar biotech
companies looking for overseas markets.
"Hunger in countries such
as Zambia is being used to play devious politics," said
Nnimmo Bassey of Friends of the Earth Nigeria. "Africans
should choose what they eat, not have someone else decide for
them."
According to Friends of the Earth
International, the Bush Administration has presented African
countries with a set of choices that present a "no win"
situation: Accept genetically engineered food that could cause
life-threatening allergic reactions and contaminate local crops,
or starve. Ever since StarLink, a type of genetically engineered
corn not approved for human consumption massively contaminated
the U.S. food supply causing a massive recall, food manufacturers
such as Kraft and Mission Foods have sourced only non-engineered
corn to make their products. Given that millions of bushels of
non-engineered corn are available on the commercial market, both
in the U.S. and abroad, FoEI considers the current Bush "take
it or leave it" policy deeply troubling.
- "There is plenty of non-engineered
corn available for food aid if the Bush Administration cares
enough to provide it," said Larry Bohlen, Director of Health
and Environment Programs at the U.S. affiliate of Friends of
the Earth.
Scientific advisors to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency have said that the bacterial
toxin in most types of engineered corn may be a human allergen,
and dozens of reports of severe unexplained adverse reactions
to corn products in the U.S. have not been adequately investigated.
Despite repeated calls from advocacy groups, lawmakers and citizens,
the U.S. government has failed to perform adequate testing to
determine the potential health risks of genetically engineered
foods. Several African leaders have requested only non-engineered
food aid while potential health impacts are assessed, and to
avoid the economic hardship that could result from crop contamination.
Acceptance of engineered corn by nations where seed is traditionally
saved for planting, and where special handling techniques are
not in place, could lead to contamination that jeopardizes the
price African farmers receive for their corn, and therefore their
ability to feed their families.
Once released, even in small
quantities, widespread contamination by engineered corn can occur,
as documented both in the U.S. and in Mexico. StarLink was planted
on only 0.5% of all acreage but contaminated at least 10% of
the entire corn crop in 2000. The losses to American farmers
have been estimated to be as high as $1 billion. The appearance
of genetically engineered traits in remote regions of Mexico,
which has banned the cultivation of engineered corn, also shows
how easily contamination can occur. The source is thought by
some scientists to be American imports for animal feed or food
processing thought to be inadvertently planted or spilled during
transportation.
Besides potentially great economic
losses that could exacerbate hunger, African leaders have other
reasons to be skeptical about U.S. motivations in sending genetically
engineered food aid. The U.S. Agency for International Development
was found by a group in Bolivia to have sent a shipment of food
aid that contained StarLink, the same engineered corn not approved
for human consumption that massively contaminated the U.S. food
supply in 2000 (see www.foe.org/foodaid
for more info).
"Clearly African leaders
are looking at the information available and deciding for themselves
what action to take. The idea that advocacy groups critical
of biotechnology are leading African officials to reject genetically
engineered crops is ridiculous," added Juan Lopez, of Friends
of the Earth International who is attending the Earth Summit
in South Africa. "The biotech industry has 50 lobbyists
for every environmental advocate."
# # #
- See www.foe.org/foodaid
for more information on food aid and genetically engineered crops,
including findings of contamination of U.S. food aid by StarLink
corn in Bolivia.
-
- Back
to Home
|