‘Frankenfoods’
Fiona Macleod
Large shiploads of genetically engineered foodstuffs are quietly being imported into South Africa because a loophole in the law enables importers to fast-track such shipments without the public knowing anything about them.
South African ports are receiving “an average of one large bulk shipment each month, mostly from Argentina and the United States”, says Glenn Ashton of the South African Federation against Genetic Engineering.
Ten days ago, the international environmental watchdog Greenpeace alerted local anti-GMO (genetically modified organisms) activists to the possible arrival of 30E000 tons of genetically engineered yellow maize on a ship called Bulk Star.
The ship, with its cargo from Argentina, was turned away from Brazilian ports and was headed for a South African port, Greenpeace said. Yellow maize is used mostly for animal feed and in the production of glucose, consumed by humans in a variety of foodstuffs, including beer and chocolates.
“Our checks show Bulk Star has not reached South Africa and is probably unlikely to come here now,” Ashton said on Wednesday. “The ship’s owners say it is in the Mediterranean.
“The unusual thing about this shipment was that we were alerted to it in advance.”
A group of lawyers and environmental development specialists, gathered in Cape Town on Wednesday, highlighted the lack of public participation in the import of GMOs, despite fears that altering gene structures may have a serious impact on human health and the environment.
The group strongly recommended that legal action be taken to challenge the new GMO Act and its regulations, which became law in December last year. “We are confident such action would meet with success,” they said.
A briefing document by legal consultant Mariam Mayet, commissioned by the biotechnology watchdog group Biowatch South Africa, pointed out that the new legislation regulating the import of GMOs has created a loophole that can be exploited by importers.
The Act stipulates that permits must be obtained from the Department of Agriculture for the import, export, development, production, use, distribution and release into the environment of GMOs.
But GMOs that have been “cleared for commercial release and/or for food and animal consumption only” do not require a permit. Importers of feed such as yellow maize, which have been cleared in the past, can bypass the permit requirement.
“This mechanism is meant to serve as an ‘exclusion list’ to fast-track commercial releases of genetically modified seed, food and animal feed, and especially to expedite trade in GMOs,” says the document.
The new Act says those applying for permits must notify the public at least 30 days in advance, in at least three newspapers circulating in the area in which the proposed release of GMOs is to take place.
This provision is circumvented where permits are not necessary. “This means the executive council set up to approve releases could, out of the public eye and without the knowledge of the public, clear any locally or imported GMOs for commercial release, or for food or feed,” says Mayet.
Dr Shadrack Moephuli, registrar of GMOs at the Department of Agriculture, said by Wednesday he had not received an application for a permit from Bulk Star.
He pointed out that importers of maize sow confusion by refusing to separate the GMO sections of their cargo from sections that do not contain GMOs.
“I am keeping my eyes open for the Bulk Star,” Moephuli said. “The government is trying to be vigilant about the import of GMOs.”