DOUBTS over the safety of genetically modified foods voiced by the British Medical Association were the main reason behind Zambia鈥檚 decision to reject food aid last year, says a Zambian scientist who visited Europe this week. Famine still threatens 2.4 million people in Zambia today.
The revelation is significant because a trade war is looming between the US and Europe over GM crops. After Zambia refused the World Food Programme鈥檚 shipments of American maize, on the grounds that they contained traces of GM strains, the US accused European governments and non-governmental organisations of 鈥減oisoning鈥� opinion in Africa by exaggerating the risks to health and the environment.
New 杏吧原创 has now been told that Zambia was influenced predominantly by negative advice about GM foods from the BMA. The claim comes from Luke Mumba, a senior molecular biologist at the University of Zambia in Lusaka who is attending a summit on farming in Brussels this week.
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In its policy document on GM foods, written in 1999, the BMA says: 鈥淲e cannot at present know whether there are serious risks to the environment or to human health involved in producing GM crops or consuming GM food products鈥nd adverse effects are likely to be irreversible.鈥�
In particular, the BMA fears antibiotic-resistance genes, which act as 鈥渕arkers鈥� in GM crops, could spread to bacteria, making them resistant to antibiotics. The report also says some GM foods might cause allergies. Neither fear has been substantiated so far.
Mumba says that before the Zambian government made its decision on the American maize it asked a group of prominent scientists to compile a report on the pros and cons of accepting it. And although the scientists interviewed 150 organisations and researchers around the world, they seemed to have been most heavily influenced by the BMA. 鈥淚n Zambia, they are always citing the BMA as the reason [for the decision]. They say that the BMA has no confidence in the safety of GM foods.鈥� The association is considered an authoritative body because of Zambia鈥檚 historical links with Britain, Mumba says.
Delegates at the summit from other African nations want Zambia to review its position, saying the BMA is at odds with other bodies. 鈥淭he American Medical Association backs GM food, as does the Royal Society in Britain, the Third World Academy of Sciences and the Food and Agriculture Organization,鈥� says Jocelyn Webster, the South African head of AfricaBio, an organisation promoting African biotechnology.
Vivienne Nathanson, director of professional activities at the BMA, denies the association has said that GM crops are harmful. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a misrepresentation of our policy to say that countries should not use these things,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 see any reason why Zambia shouldn鈥檛 accept the maize, but it鈥檚 up to them.鈥� She says the BMA will be holding 鈥渞ound table鈥� talks to decide whether its policy on GM foods needs updating.