09/06/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10112

FOOD AID IS SAFE

Thirteen-million people in southern African countries are at risk of starvation in the coming months, including more than two-million Zambians. Indeed, the United States pre-positioned ample stocks of grain in Zambia to assure that Zambians would be fed. But Zambia has now declined the sixty-thousand metric tons of maize donated by the U.S. Why? Because of misinformation claiming that genetically modified, or "biotech," food is unsafe.

These claims have no scientific basis. In fact, as U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Andrew Natsios said recently, the food aid donated by the U.S. to southern Africa is the same food that two-hundred eighty-million Americans eat every day. All of the seed that the U.S. produces goes through a rigorous regulatory process before it can be used to grow food for U.S. domestic consumption. And it’s the same food American companies sell abroad. As Mr. Natsios pointed out, many Americans have been eating modified maize for the last seven years. And in South Africa, five varieties of genetically modified maize are produced.

The United Nations has vouched for the safety of the U.S.-donated food aid. In fact, a joint study by seven academies of science, including those in India, China, Mexico, the U.S., and the Third World Academy, concluded that biotechnology, properly tested and regulated, is essential to meeting the world’s food needs. The European Commission and major non-governmental organizations have issued statements supporting the distribution of the genetically modified grain. These organizations have been delivering food from the U.S. for many years.

Sadly, misinformation about the safety of genetically modified food has slowed famine relief efforts. The lives of thirteen-million people are at risk.

At present, fifty percent of all the food pledges to the southern African region are from the U.S. Seventy percent of all the food going into the region is from the U.S. In the coming weeks, a delegation of Zambian scientists and policymakers will travel to the U.S. to learn firsthand the rigorous review to which biotech foods are subjected to ensure the safety of consumers and the environment. The Zambian delegation will meet with the government agencies responsible for reviewing biotech foods for safety, as well as with food processors and public interest groups with an interest in biotech foods.