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Angola moves to ban GM products (19/3/2004)

EXCERPT FROM THE BBC REPORT:

"Other African countries have stood their ground on GM foods.

"With Angola - a potential food basket in the region - also joining hands on the issue, it looks likely that the resistance to the importation of GM foods will gain strength."

Note in the first article below how the US's refusal to follow other developed countries in giving cash so that appropriate foods can be bought, where possible within the region, becomes a lever to pressurise countries to accepot GM contaminated grain.

Yet the US is a signatory of the 1999 Food Aid Convention, which recognises that food aid should be bought from the most cost effective source, be culturally acceptable and if possible purchased locally so that regional markets do not suffer. (see item 2)

1.Angola moves to ban GM products
2.How the US violates the Food Aid Convention
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1.Angola moves to ban GM products
By Zoe Eisenstein
In Luanda
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3551101.stm

Angola's agriculture minister has said genetically-modified foods should be banned from the country as their impact on human and animal health is unknown.

Gilberto Lutucuta said more effort must be made to check if products entering Angola were genetically modified.

He added that the Angolan government should train more personnel to perform the checks.

But a World Food Programme official said it was not clear if the decision had already been put into practice.

The officials said it was not clear whether the organisation - which feeds close to two million Angolans each month - would be given some time to adapt to the decision.

Impact on vulnerable

He added that, although he had been aware for some time that government had been discussing the issue, the WFP had never been officially informed about the details of any plan to ban GM foods entering the country.

But he stressed that the WFP's official policy would see it respect any decision taken by government regarding GM food importation.

However, in a country still emerging from a civil conflict and where many people are hungry, any action slowing down or squeezing the food pipeline could have a direct impact on those most vulnerable.

One foreign aid worker told the BBC it was not clear if the ban included food donations as well as commercial imports.

The source said that a total ban on GM foods could complicate the food chain coming from the United States - the WFP's largest food donor - as the US does not differentiate between GM and non-GM foods.

But, the source said the ban would not affect cash donations made by other donors because the WFP could buy GM-free food with the money.

Other African countries have stood their ground on GM foods.

With Angola - a potential food basket in the region - also joining hands on the issue, it looks likely that the resistance to the importation of GM foods will gain strength.
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2.How the US violates the Food Aid Convention
http://ngin.tripod.com/forcefeed.htm

*The US is refuses loans that are not tied to the purchase of GM contaminated grain from the US.

*The US says it is impossible for it to provide anything other than GM contaminated grain in spite of the fact that 50% of US elevators can and do segregate GM and non-GM grains

*The US refuses to mill the GM grain even though African countries facing famine have requested this

*The US boasts that "The principal beneficiary of America's foreign assistance programs has always been the United States"

*The US introduced Public Law 480 to ensure that food aid never interfered with "domestic production or marketing"

*USAID also states one of its roles is to "integrate GM into local food systems."

*George Bush has increased the US aid budget specifically for the purpose of encouraging the uptake of GM. Earlier this year, USAID launched a $100m programme for bringing biotechnology to developing countries. USAID's "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.
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for more on the food aid issue: http://ngin.tripod.com/forcefeed.htm

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