Health ministers from Southern African countries will meet with senior officials from the World Health Organisation next Monday in Harare, Zimbabwe, to discuss responses to the famine in the region, including the reluctance or refusal by some famine-hit countries to accept genetically modified food (GM maize) which has been offered by the US as food aid.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The European Commission believes that food aid is welcome. It said it is clear that it is up to beneficiary countries to make an informed decision on whether to accept GM food or not.
The Cartagena protocol of the Biodiversity Convention, signed by 111 countries, gives countries the right to carry out a scientific risk assessment prior to accepting import of GMOs.
For the EU, the Commission said that there is no reason to believe that GM food is inherently unsafe to human health. EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne has said on a number of occasions that EU scientists have found the GM corn varieties that they have looked at to be as safe as their conventional counterparts. For example, seven genetically modified maize varieties used in processed foods have undergone scientific risk assessment in the EU and concluded to be as safe for human food use as their conventional counterparts.
The Commission will make the EU’s scientific opinions on GM products available to the participants of the Harare meeting. The European Commission is responding to the humanitarian crisis with almost €150m (US$145.6m). Equivalent to around 300 000 tonnes of maize, the Commission said it was its policy to buy as much corn as possible from markets in the region.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalData
