October 17, 2002 -- The government of Zambia has been strongly commended by for its decision
to refuse
food aid packages containing genetically modified corn by two
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
The Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre (KATC) and the href="http://www.jctr.org.zm">Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection
(JCTR) have called the
government's stance ?courageous? and urged that
it fulfill its pledge to get the necessary relief food to hungry
Zambians as quickly as possible. The damaging impact
of genetically modifed organisms (GMOs) on sustainable agriculture was
cited as the key reason for rejecting offers of
GM corn.

?The Zambian government must not give in to the pressures exerted by
offers of GMO maize before adequate study is
done and effective precautions taken,? says Paul Desmarais, KATC director.

Helping the small farmers who produce the bulk of Zambia?s food crops
means promoting a farming system
that uses few external inputs and makes greater use of natural resources
found at farm level, including seed,
Desmarais says.

According to a study jointly undertaken by KATC and JCTR, the possible
introduction of
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the country has many serious
risks that must be
thoroughly investigated before any decisions are taken.

Bernadette Lubozhya, an agricultural scientist who authored the study,
argued that ?GM crops will drastically and
dangerously alter the future infrastructure of Zambian agriculture.?
According to Lubozhya, the long-term effects of
genetically modified crops may include:

• Lower yields, increased herbicide use, erratic performance and poor
  economic returns to small=scale farmers.

• Loss of European markets for Zambian products such as fresh
  flowers, fruit and vegetables, tobacco, coffee and
  organic products, because the European Union bans GMOs.

• Potential environmental problems such as insect resistance,
  contamination of wild plant relatives to
  our domesticated crops, greater use of chemicals, less biodiversity, and
  harmful mutations that can cause diseases.

• Dominance of corporate monopoly (corporate farms, many with
  international connections) over food production,
  which drives family farmers to destitution (as evidenced in the North
  America).

• Negative impact on informal seed trade, which supplies 85 percent
  of planting seed to the 75 percent
  of the farming community in Zambia.

• Diversion of the very essential emphasis on sustainable agriculture
  that guarantees future household food security.
  

Another concern, according to Lubozhya, is that some GM crops that might
come to Zambia have been
modified in a manner that makes them more dependent on pesticides. She
cites the example of the use
elsewhere of Roundup Ready soybeans, which are dependent on Roundup
herbicide. Both the seed and
the herbicide are owned by the same corporation.

A group of European and American scholars have challenged the JCTR position.

"The position taken by this Zambian theological group cannot be
defended by science," says Dr. Piero Morandini, a plant biology
researcher at the University of Milan, Italy. "Nor is it supported by
Judeo-Christian
teachings. How can this group reject food aid, knowing that many
Zambians could die of starvation without it?"

A detailed rebuttal to the Zambian study (available at href="http://www.agbioworld.org">www.agbioworld.org) has been
delivered to U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See James Nicholson, to
Andrew Natsios of the U.S. Agency for International Development,
and to other public officials.