A South African Member of Parliament has tabled a motion to stop the government from approving an application by Monsanto to import GM wheat for human consumption and processing into animal feed. To date no country in the world has approved commercial planting of GM wheat. MP Kent Durr, member of the African Christian Democratic Party in the motion dated 11 February states that South Africa is being asked to take an environmental and food safety leap no other country has yet taken.
The motion calls upon the government to deny the permit and to disallow GM wheat in South Africa, and to declare the Cape a GM free area. It also calls for a revision of the existing GMO Act 1997, and the implementation of the Precautionary Principle as recognised in the cartagena Protocol. South Africa is a Party to the Protocol, which will see its first meeting in Kuala Lumpur from 23 to 27 February in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Below is the text of the parliamentary motion.
MOTION BY KDS DURR, MP (NCOP)
11 FEBRUARY 2004
The House notes the application as published in the Business Day on the 19th of January 2004 by Monsanto SA (Pty) Ltd, to the Directorate: Genetic Resources/National Department of Agriculture for a “commodity clearance permit number for transgenetically modified wheat”.
In the application Monsanto asks for a permit that would allow for the importation of GM wheat for human consumption and the manufacture of animal feeds.
The House notes that nowhere in the world has GM wheat been allowed to be grown commercially. Even in the USA and Canada, regulatory approval will take years, if it is ever granted.
The House notes that South Africa is being asked to take an environmental and food safety leap no other country has yet taken.
All applications for GM wheat worldwide have encountered technical problems because of its inherent genetic instability which means that many unintended consequences to human health and the environment can result.
The House must remember that we have acceded to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The first Meeting of the Parties will take place in Malaysia from 23 -27 February 2004. It has become urgent for South Africa to revise our GMO Act (Act 15 of 1997) and thus to implement the Biosafety Protocol. Also the African Union has recommended that we use the African Model Law on Biosafety, when implementing our biosafety regime.
Monsanto clearly wishes to enter the lucrative African wheat market (20 million tons per annum) before the Biosafety Protocol is implemented, which would exempt GE wheat from crucial biosafety oversight in terms of the Biosafety Protocol, including the Precautionary Principle, which will allow South Africa to refuse the import in the face of scientific uncertainty.
The House notes the position of the Africa Group negotiating the Biosafety Protocol, calling on all African governments to implement rigorous biosafety legislation, as Africa is one landmass and pollen and seeds do not know borders.
In this regard, the House specifically notes the recommendations made last month by the African Union’s Expert Committee on Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Biosafety that its member states consider a moratorium on the import and release of GMOs.
The House calls upon the government to deny the permit and to disallow GM wheat in South Africa and to declare the Cape a GM free area.
