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SOUTH AFRICA – BIOTECH REPORT AVAILABLE
Biotechnology in South Africa
- Via www.checkbiotech.org
This report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service
(USDA/FAS) examines the use, development, and regulation of agricultural biotechnology in South Africa.
The report finds that genetically modified (GM) crop varieties now make up approximately 92 percent of South Africa's cotton, 29 percent of corn, and 59 percent of soybeans.
GM corn is found in the report to have increased from 16.6 percent of total corn planted in 2005 to 29.4 percent in 2006. Actual hectares planted to GM corn is said to have increased by only 11 percent (to 455,287 hectares) because the total area of corn fell by 45 percent.
GM varieties of white maize, which is a staple food for the majority of South Africans, are found to have spread dramatically between 2005 and 2006 from 8.6 percent to 28.8 percent while GM yellow corn grew from 24 to 30.5 percent.
The report states that South Africa's biotechnology industry is "still embryonic." However, it says South African scientists in both the private and public sectors are researching new varieties of GM corn, melon, millet, lupins, soybeans, strawberries, sugar cane, cotton, apples, tomatoes, sorghum, wheat, potatoes, and grapes.
An appendix to the report lists 57 biotechnology products that have been approved for "general," "commodity," or "trial" release in South Africa. The report states that the country's biotechnology regulatory structure is "in general very progressive."
However, it says "anti-GM lobby groups" have recently been demanding "unscientific" information from the GMO Registrar's office at the National Department of Agriculture, effectively slowing the process for new approvals.
The 22-page report is available online at:
http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200608/146208636.pdf
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