AfricaBio
South Africa based lobby group with strong regulatory influence. According to an article in the science journal
Nature
, 'AfricaBio, along with agribiotech companies and other pro-biotech campaigners, is now fighting tooth and nail, often by somewhat controversial methods, to spread the word about GM crops'. Has strong industry backing. Works closely with Florence Wambugu's AHBFI.
African Agricultural Technology Foundation - AATF
Kenya based initiative to help transfer GM crops into the African market place. It has the formal endorsement of the US as well as backing from USAID, DfID, Rockefeller, Monsanto, Dupont, Dow and Syngenta. The projects it's working with include the Syngenta Foundation's Insect Resistant Maize for Africa.
African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum - ABSF
Kenya based intiative spun off by the industry-backed ISAAA under its then director
Florence Wambugu
AgBioWorld
US based pro-GM lobby group headed by CS Prakash who works in close coordination with the biotech industry, particularly Monsanto, and with USAID and other US government agencies, as well as corporate lobbyists, most notably the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Agricultural Biotechnology Support Program - ABSP/ABSP II
USAID
funded project managed originally by the Michigan State University and more recently by Cornell (ABSP II). Its
partners
have included Asgrow, Monsanto, and Pioneer Hi-Bred. See
Muffy Koch
and SARB.
Andrew Bennet
Executive Director of
Syngenta Foundation
. Previously Director of Rural Livelihoods and Environment for the UK government's
Department for International Development (DfID).
Biotechnology Outreach Society of Zambia
Aims to provide an 'aggressive awareness campaign' in support of GM in order to make Zambian government policy less 'negative' towards GM crops - see
Luke Mumba
TJ Buthelezi
South African farmer who has been flown around the world to support biotech industry and US lobbying for GMOs.
Congress of Racial Equality - CORE
African American lobby group that claims it is seeking to bring justice to the Third World by opposing restrictions on GM crops, DDT, etc. CORE has been described as 'a tin cup outstretched to every Hard Right political campaign or cause that finds it convenient - or a sick joke - to hire Black cheerleaders'.
DfID - Department for International Development (UK)
The UK government's overseas aid dept which has quietly been funding a £13m plus programme to create a new generation of GM animals, crops and drugs throughout the Third World (see
Andrew Bennet
). Helps fund AATF.
Economic Human Rights Project
An initiative of the US based Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, in cooperation with the Congress of Racial Equality, 'dedicated to correcting prevalent environmental myths and misguided policies that help perpetuate poverty, misery, disease and early death in developing countries.'
Foodsecurity.net
A Monsanto-linked PR front which promotes itself as 'the web's most complete source of news and information about global food security concerns'. Its 'African director' is
Dr Michael Mbwille.
Golden Genomics
South African based biosafety consultancy of GM lobbyist
Muffy Koch
.
International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Situated in the Nigerian city of Ibadan, IITA is part of the
Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) which has Syngenta Foundation on its board.
IITA is part of CGIAR's Harvest Plus Plan involving research on GM crops.
USAID has agreement with IITA to heavily invest in 'agricultural biotechnology'.
ISAAA - International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications
ISAAA is a U.S.-centered, GM promotion and ‘technology transfer’ agency with multi-million dollar funding by AgrEvo, Bayer, Cargill, Dow, Monsanto, Novartis, Pioneer, Syngenta, in addition to foundations and Western governmental funding agencies
. Board of Directors has contained leading biotech industry executives. Its Kenya-based AfriCenter originally headed by
Florence Wambugu
who went on to establish her own biotech advocacy outfit - African Harvest Biotechnology Foundation International. ISAAA has also spun
off a number of other pro-GM NGOs, like the
African Biotechnology Stakeholders' Forum. It also served as model for the more recent AATF - both have similar backers and work on 'technology transfer', but AATF has been given a more African face.
John Innes Centre
This UK based plant biotech research institute has a significant number of GM projects aimed at developing countries funded, for example, by DfID - the
Department for International Development (see
Andrew Bennet
.)
Muffy Koch
Along with
TJ Buthelezi
,
Jocelyn Webster
and
Jennifer Thompson
, Muffy Koch is one of the key pro-GM lobbyists operating out of South Africa. See also Golden Genomics and SARB .
Luke Mumba
Zambian scientist and interim Chairman of the Biotechnology Outreach Society of Zambia which aims to make the
Zambian government more positive towards GM crops.
Andrew Natsios
Head of USAID. Has aggressively attacked those opposing GM crops.
Nuffield Council on Bioethics
UK based committee responsible for highly controversial reports promoting GM crops for the developing world.
CS Prakash
US based advisor to USAID and 'principal investigator' of a USAID -funded project 'to promote biotechnology awareness in Africa'. Director of AgBioWorld .
SAGENE
The very rapid uptake of GM crops in South Africa is principally due to the South African Committee on Genetic Experimentation (SAGENE). Established as a regulatory body under South Africa's apartheid regime, SAGENE continued to be the driving force behind GMO releases long after the defeat of apartheid. See SAGENE members Muffy Koch and Jennifer Thompson.
SARB - Southern Africa Regional Biosafety
South Africa based project to push weak bio-safety regimes regionally. Sub-project of the USAID backed Agricultural Biotechnology Support Program. See
Muffy Koch.
Richard Sithole
One of a number of South African farmers used to promote GM crops. See also TJ Buthelezi
Sustainable Development Network
London based pro-GM free market lobby group that lists as part of its coalition: AgBioWorld, Africa Fighting Malaria (South Africa), Free Market Foundation (South Africa), Inter-Region Economic Network (Kenya) and Institute for Public Policy Analysis (Nigeria).
Syngenta Foundation
An offshoot of the world's largest biotech corporation which
aims
to provide GM crops to resource poor farmers.
Its main project is
Insect Resistant Maize for Africa - IRMA - a showcase project aimed at Kenya. Executive Director: Andrew Bennet.
Jennifer Thompson
This South African GM scientist-lobbyist is a key figure in AfricaBio, SAGENE, AATF, and ISAAA.
USAID - U.S. Agency for International Development
USAID has launched a $100m programme for bringing GM to developing countries. Its 'training' and 'awareness raising programmes' will, its website reveals, provide companies such as 'Syngenta, Pioneer Hi-Bred and Monsanto' with opportunities for technology transfer. Monsanto, in turn, provides
financial support for USAID. Head: Andrew Natsios
Florence Wambugu
Chief Executive of African Harvest Biotechnology Foundation International (AHFBI).
Kenyan scientist trained by Monsanto for its GM sweet potato project.
Post-Monsanto Wambugu became the first Director of the AfriCentre of the
ISAAA
.
Wambugu and
ISAAA
spun off a number of pro-GM fronts, e.g. African Biotechnology Stakeholders’ Forum (ABSF), of which she is the Vice Chair, and the African Biotechnology Trust.
Jocelyn Webster
Executive Director, AfricaBio.
