[Scpg] African Biotech Specialist Disputes Concerns Over Genetically Engineered Foods

[Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network]

African Biotech Specialist Disputes Concerns Over Genetically Engineered 
Foods
Kristof Nordin | Tuesday, 7th August 2012

http://www.permaculture.co.uk/news/0708122136/african-biotech-specialist-disputes-concerns-over-genetically-engineered-foods

Genetically Modified Foods (GM) as a solution to food security issues 
has been a contentious topic in Western countries for many decades. 
Well, the front line for the debate is now equally to be found on the 
African continent. Here Kristof Nordin, who has a permaculture farm in 
Malawi, vigorously argues about the perils of relying on one major crop 
such as maize


Kristof Nordin teaching
At a recent conference on biotechnology held in Accra, Ghana, Professor 
Jonathan Padi Tetteh stated that GM foods pose no health risks to humans 
and called on the African continent to embrace this technology to solve 
food security problems.

Professor Tetteh is attached to the University of Cape Coast in Ghana 
and works in the field of biotechnology. The theme of the conference 
where his remarks were given was entitled: "The Impact of Biotechnology 
on Food Production".

The full transcript of the article may be found at the following: 
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/regional/artikel.php?ID=246894

A response from Africa

There are growing efforts throughout Africa - with recent calls for a 
'Second Green Revolution' - to convince local farmers that genetic 
engineering is 'progress' and will have no detrimental impact on their 
livelihoods, societies, or ecosystems. Professor Tetteh makes the 
argument that genetic engineering is the way forward for Africa because 
this is the way that 'developed' countries are doing it. "GM foods", he 
noted, "had been consumed in many countries including USA, Canada, 
Brazil, India and China for over 16 years without any reports of adverse 
effects."

Unfortunately, this is also the same argument that we very often hear 
being given to justify the high-input, chemically-based, industrialized 
agriculture that has swept over the African continent during the past 
50-60 years. It is even given to justify some extremely detrimental 
practices such as the spraying of DDT to eradicate mosquitoes in an 
effort to lower the incident rates of malaria.

Despite this chemical now being outlawed in many countries due to the 
problems that arose from its use, we still find some African leaders and 
politicians repeating the familiar mantra, "But that's how other 
countries did it". There are valuable lessons that can be gathered in 
learning from - rather than in repeating - other people mistakes.

Despite that fact that there have been several credible studies done 
that have called into question the safety and environmental impacts of 
genetically engineering, what Professor Tetteh and other pro-GMO 
advocates are failing to recognize is the fact that we simply don't need 
genetic engineering to solve the world's food security problems - we 
just need to start using what we have. A 1997 FAO document states: 
"Current research has identified approximately 250,000 plant species out 
of an estimated 300,000-500,000 in existence. Of that, about 30,000 are 
edible, and of these about 7,000 plants and an additional 700 animal 
species have been used throughout the world's history as food. Today, 
however, only 3 plants (wheat, rice, and maize) provide more than half 
of the global plant-derived energy. If we add six more crops (sorghum, 
millet, potatoes, sweet potatoes, soya beans, and sugar (cane or beet)) 
we cover 75% of the world's energy. And, if we go a bit further, it is 
estimated that 95% of the world's energy now comes from only 30 crops. 
(FAO, 1997, 'State of the World Plant Genetic Resources for Food and 
Agriculture'; and, World Resources Institute, 2005, 'Millennium 
Ecosystem Assessment')"

As we have removed agriculture from the diverse cycles of nature, we 
find that we are actually creating many of the current problems that we 
are facing. Imbalance in natural systems leads the increased 
susceptibility to - and even the creation of - such problems as 
droughts, floods, pests, disease, and even malnutrition. When these 
imbalances have arisen, the modern trend has been to adapt the plants 
and animals to these new conditions rather than attempting to bring 
harmony back to the system. In other words, we seem to continually 
trying to change 'Mother Nature' rather than making adjustments to 
'Human Nature.' The majority of the current genetic 'alterations' that 
we see being made can be grouped into three main categories: higher 
yields, pest or disease resistance, and nutritional modification. When 
one looks at the use of diversified and organic agricultural methods 
that mimic natural systems, we find that these 'alterations' are 
suddenly rendered unnecessary:

• Higher yields can easily be achieved when one compares the overall 
production of year-round mixed crop systems to the single-season 
monocropped methods that are currently being used. With this in mind we 
don't need to be genetically modifying (or even artificially 
hybridizing) plants for higher yields, we simply need to use the ones 
that we've always had available to us more wisely.

• Insects and diseases become naturally managed as the balance returns 
to the land and we begin to take advantage of the plants that have 
adapted over many years to their various predators. This eliminates the 
need for genetically modified "resistant" plants as well as the use of 
harmful chemicals.

• Growing and eating a wide variety of healthy plant foods on a 
year-round basis eliminates nutritional deficiencies. This takes away 
the need to genetically alter (or bio-fortify) single food crops to 
include all of the nutrients that a person should be receiving. Trying 
to meet all of our nutritional needs through the use of a limited 
handful of plants is not only unhealthy for us as humans, but also for 
the environment from which we receive our food.

My wife and I have been working in Malawi, Africa for the past 15 years 
on issues of sustainable food security, diversified nutrition, and 
non-GMO agriculture. We can positively attest to the resilience, 
sustainability, and seasonal abundance that have come about as a result 
of using polycultural and integrated agricultural systems. We currently 
have a list of over 600 foods in Malawi that are being overlooked and 
overshadowed by the growing of one crop - maize - and we have over 200 
of these open-pollinated, natural, and non-GMO foods growing around our 
home, which gives us daily access to organic, local, seasonal, and 
extremely diversified nutrition. We, as a global community, need to 
start getting people like Professor Tetteh to focus their research 
efforts in the right direction. Researchers, farmers, and consumers all 
need to start learning about - while at the same time learning from - 
the sustainable and risk-free use of all our natural resources.

You may learn more about our work by visiting us at www.neverendingfood.org