Zambian Health Minister Defends Ban on GM Food Aid

Sat Aug 31, 5:04 PM ET JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zambia defended its ban on genetically altered food aid on Saturday and said it would take several weeks for a final decision on whether the food was safe for 2.4 million Zambians facing starvation.

Southern Africa's worst food crisis in a decade, affecting 13 million people in six countries, has fired a debate over the use of genetically modified (GM) food.

Zambia has barred GM food imports until its scientists establish through their own tests whether the food, sourced mostly from the United States where GM crops are widespread, is safe for human consumption.

"What we said was we don't have enough information, so we went to scientists and asked: Are GM foods safe?," Zambian Health Minister Brian Chituwo said during an event at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg.

"We decided to go cautiously. Had we imposed the decision as government, the civil instability as a result would have been terrible," he added.

Chituwo said a decision should come "hopefully by the end of September."

Earlier on Saturday, Zimbabwe's Agriculture Minister Joseph Made told Reuters that his country would not accept genetically modified food as part of mostly U.S. aid shipments to its famine-threatened population.

"We do not accept genetically modified material into Zimbabwe," Made said. World Food Program officials said, however, that Zimbabwe has previously accepted GM food aid.

About six million Zimbabweans, half the country's population, are battling food shortages caused by drought and the disruption caused by controversial government land reforms.

The debate over GM foods has fueled fears that the issue could upset a huge relief effort in the drought-hit region.
The European Union ( news - web sites)'s mission head in Zambia, Ambjorn Berglund, said on Friday it might not be possible to source enough non-GM maize in the region and in good time to address the needs of people suffering the consequences of drought.

The United Nations ( news - web sites) food body said on Friday it would not pressure countries to accept GM food, but it urged governments to "think carefully" before rejecting it.

"I am not going to tell them to accept or not accept," said Food and Agriculture Organization ( news - web sites) (FAO) Director-General Jacques Diouf, who hopes to meet officials from the six affected countries on the sidelines of the summit.
Diouf said that based on available scientific evidence, the GM food aid was "not likely to present a human health risk" to the millions of people in need.