I HATE working at weekends. But this is one assignment I鈥檓 glad I took. On a dank Saturday evening back in January, I agreed to meet a group of African biotechnologists. They were in Europe to persuade anyone who鈥檇 listen that Africa has a lot to gain from agricultural biotechnology, even if Europe hasn鈥檛.
The backdrop to our meeting was an ongoing controversy about whether famine-threatened African countries should accept shipments of food aid from the US when the maize supplied had not been segregated into GM and non-GM consignments. Over the past months Zimbabwe and then Zambia had opted to reject the food.
Why did these countries decide it was better to let people starve than accept the aid, I asked my guests. They told me that much of the opposition has its roots in Europe. There was concern, fuelled by European aid organisations and environmental groups, that GM might threaten the health of people who ate it and damage the environment. It would also jeopardise vital exports to the European Union, which insists crops be segregated. Luke Mumba, a senior molecular biologist at the University of Zambia in Lusaka, said a big factor in Zambia鈥檚 decision was a negative report on the safety of GM foods published in 1999 by the British Medical Association. The BMA was not best pleased when I confronted it with Mumba鈥檚 claims, but promised to review its GM policy. It kept that promise, and the draft is being tweaked for launch early next year.
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Zambia is also reviewing its biotech legislation. But concerns about trade issues still loom large. Headlines in the UK this year focused on debates and scientific findings emphasising what is probably true of public opinion across the EU: GM crops don鈥檛 provide anything that consumers particularly want. But Mumba and his ilk argue that the same is not necessarily true in Africa. With the continent鈥檚 extremes of climate, farmers need all the options they can get. They want countries to choose whether they think GM will help, alongside other options such as improved transport infrastructure and access to water.
While European consumers and campaigners remain so hostile to GM technology, it鈥檚 a choice they do not have.