Poverty, not GM, threatens biodiversity

Africa's leading molecular geneticist told a forum on genetically modified organisms that poverty, not GM crops, posed the biggest threat to biodiversity around the world.

Kenyan molecular geneticist Dr Florence Wambugu, director of A Harvest Biotechnology Foundation International, said "a huge amount of fanfare" was being fed into the air by the anti-GM movement that biodiversity was being lost to genetically modified crops.

"But biodiversity is being lost to poverty - they should come and see for themselves," she said. "Any technology that can increase food production can surely help. Other countries can donate the technology, but we have to do it for ourselves."

Earlier, Wambugu told a press conference, "There are two areas where the opponents of GM are causing us problems -- we are suffering a loss of research funding because European research agencies will not fund research in Africa that they would not fund in Europe.

"Then there are cases like Zambia where there were a lot of activists from Europe going there to sow fear. We have on tape some Greenpeace activists telling Zambians that GM foods contain poison.

"About 30 per cent of all trade in Africa is with Europe, and they were saying if you grow GM crops and eat GM foods, you're going to lose your trade in Europe."

Wambugu said anti-GM activists were also wrong in claiming that there would be no food shortages in developing nations if only food were more equitably distributed.

"People like to eat their own foods," she said. "The success of the technology in Africa depends on us putting genes into our own foods.

"Even when we receive food relief, distributing it is very expensive. Human dignity is also an issue - people don't want their food to come from the US or Australia. Africa doesn't just want to be market for other countries' products."

Wambugu said GM crops could help provide food security in Africa because the technology was delivered in the seed. Previous technologies had had no impact because of lack of delivery systems.

She predicted that the European moratorium on GM crops would crack. "It can't be maintained because there is no reason for it scientifically," she said.