August 28, 2002 -- Zambia, one of six countries in southern Africa where some 13 million
people need emergency food aid, continues to refuse offers of
genetically modified (GM) food supplies.

The Zambian government says the August 17 ban on GM food imports will
stay in effect until its scientists establish through their own tests if
the foods are safe for human consumption.

The United Nations World Food Program estimates that over two million
Zambians will require
emergency food aid after suffering a second successive bad harvest.
Prolonged dry spells and erratic
rains are the main culprits, affecting five out of Zambia's nine provinces.

The Southern Province is the worst-affected, with a staggering 60
percent of the population needing food aid.
The maize crop was an almost total failure. Last year's Zambia's maize
production fell by a quarter, after severe flooding hit
southern and eastern Zambia. This means most farmers have little in
reserve to cope with the current crisis.

In the south, many Zambians are collecting, selling and eating wild
foods just to get by. Others have resorted to
crop-stealing and poaching. Large numbers of children are dropping out
of school because of the hunger.

Even when the rural hungry can afford to buy food, Zambia's low
population density means they have to make an
exhausting journey on foot over tens of kilometers just to reach the
marketplace The 20 percent rate of HIV/AIDS is
stopping thousands of young people working in the fields.

"The World Food Program has received donations of food for use in
southern Africa, some of which contain GMOs (genetically
modified organisms," says James T. Morris, executive director. "Several
governments in southern Africa have accepted
these donated foods without reservation and GM maize varieties are grown
in the region.

"However, other governments have expressed reservations on receiving
food aid containing GMOs and have sought advice from
the United Nations," Morris adds. "There are not existing international
agreements yet in force with regard to trade in
food or food aid that deal specifically with food containing GMOs. It is
U.N. policy that the decision with regard to the
acceptance of GM commodities as part of food aid transactions rests with
the recipient countries and that is the case
with southern Africa."

Donors to the World Food Program have fully certified that the GM
commodities are safe for human consumption, Morris says.
Based on national information from from a variety of sources and current
scientific knowledge, the U.N. Food and Agriculture
Organization, World Health Organization and World Food Program maintain
that consumption of donated food containing GMOs
is not likely to present a risk to human health.

If effectively harnessed to tackle Africa's specific
challenges, biotechnology can help the continent by cutting the
incidence of disease, food insecurity, and vulnerability to
environmental damage, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
(ECA) said in a recent statement.

Previewing a report that will be officially presented at the World Summit
on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South
Africa this week, the ECA also cautioned that the expected benefits of
both medical and agricultural biotechnology can only be realized if a
number of key challenges related to their adaptability in Africa are
addressed.

Biotechnology should be viewed as one part of a comprehensive,
sustainable poverty reduction strategy, and not as a technological
"quick fix" for the continent's hunger and poverty problems, according
to the report. At
the same time, the ECA notes that Africa stands to benefit from any
technology that can increase the production of food, enhance its
nutritional quality, and minimize the exploitation of forests and
marginal lands.

Reaping the full benefit of the technological revolution will require
critical planning and strategic investments, the report says, calling
for the promotion of African-focused biotechnology research which
emphasizes the diseases and their strains prevalent on the continent,
particularly HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. With African countries
currently investing less than 2 per cent of their total agricultural
research funds in biotechnology, the report recommends increased
spending on modern biotechnology research.