By IPS Correspondents
COTONOU, Dec 6 2002 (IPS)

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has granted 170,000 U.S. dollars for a Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) project in Benin.

The grant comes just eight months after the government imposed a five-year moratorium on the ”import, trade and use of all GMOs or GMO-derived products” in Benin.

The project, which kicks off in December, will last 18 months.

Benin is also planning to conduct a study on the presence of GMOs within its territory and demand labelling of products containing GMOs, according to Raphael Ogounchi of the ministry of environment.

A draft bill – to keep GMOs out of Benin – will be tabled in parliament soon by the government.

Experts from the ministries of environment, and agriculture, as well as from the University of Benin and Genetic Resources Action International, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), met in Cotonou, Benin’s economic capital, on Nov 26. During the meeting, the ministries of environment and agriculture promised that the five-year ban would be upheld.

‘’GMOs are agricultural products obtained through the technology known as genetic engineering, which consists of manipulating genes. It’s a kind of surgery on molecules, which allows one to take a banana gene, for example, and introduce it into a radish, or vice versa. One can also, through this technology, insert human or animal genes into plants,” explains Robert Brac de la Perriere, a researcher at the Bibliotheque d’Echanges de Documentation et d’Expriences in France.

‘’In the end, the technology will lead to the confiscation of genetic resources by firms intending to patent plant and animal genes. And, farmers will become dependent on these firms because other forms of agriculture will disappear since traditional crops will be irreversibly and inevitably contaminated by GMO crops,” he explains.

‘’The GMOs represent uncontrolled risks to human being such as allergies and resistance to certain antibiotics,” la Perriere claims.

Environmentalists, who met in Cotonou recently, say GMOs are consumed in a large number of African countries, without the inhabitants knowing.

In Ethiopia, for example, there is no information available to the public on GMOs, which do exist there. There are even research institutes which, in partnership with large international firms, promote these organisms among Ethiopians without explaining the associated risks, says Gebre Michael Dereje of the Ethiopian Institute for Sustainable Development.

In Nigeria, consumers are totally ignorant of the risks of GMOs, although the government has opened the country to the products, claims Violet Agwana of Friends of the Earth – Nigeria chapter.

‘’In Burkina Faso, people maybe consuming GMOs without knowing it,” says Paul Gbangou of the NGO Green – Burkina Faso chapter. ‘’GMOs could enter the country without any problem because there are no laws against them. We do notice, in the marketplace, imported food items from abroad”.

‘’In Togo, we are not aware about GMOs. Consumers, especially farmers, don’t understand the idea behind GMOs and, even less, the risks they carry,’ ‘ says Catherine Zotoglo of the Centre for Ecology and Development, an NGO which supports farmers.

‘’In Cameroon, there is no appropriate information on GMOs. I cannot, therefore, say whether or not we have GMOs in our country. Cameroon has not developed the necessary monitoring system to check for GMOs within our borders,” explains Jean M’Barga, a farmer and president of the Federation of Rural Organisations in Cameroon.

Environmentalists are also critical of South Africa. ‘’South Africa has become the testing ground for transgenic crops that multinational companies want to implant throughout the continent. Cotton producers are dazzled by their advantages,” said SYFIA, a news agency based in Montpellier, France, which specialises in agricultural issues.

The American firm Monsanto, ‘’guarantees, thanks to GMOs, insect-resistant plants which otherwise would require several different treatments. With these plants, which produce better and permit increased profits, Monsanto thinks it is bringing solutions to problems of alimentary security, such as famine or malnutrition,” said SYFIA.

Monsanto is trying to introduce transgenic cotton in Cote d’Ivoire, as it already has in Kenya and Egypt, says Jeanne Zoundjihekpon, a Genetic Resources Action International representative in Francophone Africa.

In Benin, ‘’GMOs do exist in markets and supermarkets, while the public has not been at all informed about them,” says Patrice Sagbo of the Cotonou-based Action for Sustainable Development, a non-governmental organisation.

‘’The example of Benin (on the GMOs moratorium) is one that other African countries should follow since à with these new biotechnological GMOs, no one knows with certainty exactly what we’re dealing with,” comments Zoundjihekpon.

She also draws strength from Europe. ‘’Why don’t people in Europe want GMOs? And why should Africa accept them?” wonders Zoundjihekpon. ‘’We must resist GMOs until the risks they present to agriculture and the environment are clarified.”

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
COTONOU, Dec 6 2002 (IPS)

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has granted 170,000 U.S. dollars for a Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) project in Benin.

The grant comes just eight months after the government imposed a five-year moratorium on the “import, trade and use of all GMOs or GMO-derived products” in Benin.

The project, which kicks off in December, will last 18 months.

Benin is also planning to conduct a study on the presence of GMOs within its territory and demand labelling of products containing GMOs, according to Raphael Ogounchi of the ministry of environment.

A draft bill – to keep GMOs out of Benin – will be tabled in parliament soon by the government.

Experts from the ministries of environment, and agriculture, as well as from the University of Benin and Genetic Resources Action International, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), met in Cotonou, Benin’s economic capital, on Nov 26. During the meeting, the ministries of environment and agriculture promised that the five-year ban would be upheld.

‘’GMOs are agricultural products obtained through the technology known as genetic engineering, which consists of manipulating genes. It’s a kind of surgery on molecules, which allows one to take a banana gene, for example, and introduce it into a radish, or vice versa. One can also, through this technology, insert human or animal genes into plants,” explains Robert Brac de la Perriere, a researcher at the Bibliotheque d’Echanges de Documentation et d’Expriences in France.

‘’In the end, the technology will lead to the confiscation of genetic resources by firms intending to patent plant and animal genes. And, farmers will become dependent on these firms because other forms of agriculture will disappear since traditional crops will be irreversibly and inevitably contaminated by GMO crops,” he explains.

‘’The GMOs represent uncontrolled risks to human being such as allergies and resistance to certain antibiotics,” la Perriere claims.

Environmentalists, who met in Cotonou recently, say GMOs are consumed in a large number of African countries, without the inhabitants knowing.

In Ethiopia, for example, there is no information available to the public on GMOs, which do exist there. There are even research institutes which, in partnership with large international firms, promote these organisms among Ethiopians without explaining the associated risks, says Gebre Michael Dereje of the Ethiopian Institute for Sustainable Development.

In Nigeria, consumers are totally ignorant of the risks of GMOs, although the government has opened the country to the products, claims Violet Agwana of Friends of the Earth – Nigeria chapter.

‘’In Burkina Faso, people maybe consuming GMOs without knowing it,” says Paul Gbangou of the NGO Green – Burkina Faso chapter. ‘’GMOs could enter the country without any problem because there are no laws against them. We do notice, in the marketplace, imported food items from abroad”.

‘’In Togo, we are not aware about GMOs. Consumers, especially farmers, don’t understand the idea behind GMOs and, even less, the risks they carry,’ ‘ says Catherine Zotoglo of the Centre for Ecology and Development, an NGO which supports farmers.

‘’In Cameroon, there is no appropriate information on GMOs. I cannot, therefore, say whether or not we have GMOs in our country. Cameroon has not developed the necessary monitoring system to check for GMOs within our borders,” explains Jean M’Barga, a farmer and president of the Federation of Rural Organisations in Cameroon.

Environmentalists are also critical of South Africa. ‘’South Africa has become the testing ground for transgenic crops that multinational companies want to implant throughout the continent. Cotton producers are dazzled by their advantages,” said SYFIA, a news agency based in Montpellier, France, which specialises in agricultural issues.

The American firm Monsanto, ‘’guarantees, thanks to GMOs, insect-resistant plants which otherwise would require several different treatments. With these plants, which produce better and permit increased profits, Monsanto thinks it is bringing solutions to problems of alimentary security, such as famine or malnutrition,” said SYFIA.

Monsanto is trying to introduce transgenic cotton in Cote d’Ivoire, as it already has in Kenya and Egypt, says Jeanne Zoundjihekpon, a Genetic Resources Action International representative in Francophone Africa.

In Benin, ‘’GMOs do exist in markets and supermarkets, while the public has not been at all informed about them,” says Patrice Sagbo of the Cotonou-based Action for Sustainable Development, a non-governmental organisation.

‘’The example of Benin (on the GMOs moratorium) is one that other African countries should follow since à with these new biotechnological GMOs, no one knows with certainty exactly what we’re dealing with,” comments Zoundjihekpon.

She also draws strength from Europe. ‘’Why don’t people in Europe want GMOs? And why should Africa accept them?” wonders Zoundjihekpon. ‘’We must resist GMOs until the risks they present to agriculture and the environment are clarified.”

Excerpt: