South African government rejects GM maize

The South African government has rejected a seed company's application to grow genetically modified (GM) maize for the biofuel industry. The maize, called "maize event 3 272", is the first GM industrial crop in the world for which approval has been sought for cultivation. The government turned down the application from seed company Syngenta because it said it had not convincingly shown that the maize was safe for food or animal feed.

Although the GM maize was intended to feed cars, not people, the government said it was possible that the GM maize would become mixed with ordinary maize grown for food. The department of agriculture's executive council, which regulates the GM industry, also said the GM maize could harm South Africa's maize export industry. The GM maize strain had not been released for commercial use in any other country and, once grown commercially, it could enter international trade routes, said the council. "Contamination of South African export products with Event 3 272 could jeopardise the export of maize products and may have serious economic consequences," it said.

A third reason was that the company had not used World Health Organisation methods for evaluating whether the new GM maize contained allergens. Julian Jaftha, who chairs the executive council, said that Event 3 272 maize was a specific type of genetic modification and "there is always a chance it gets mixed up with other maize".

Ken Flower of Syngenta said that he could not comment as he had not yet seen the government's reasons for rejecting the application.

Mariam Mayet of the African Centre for Biosafety, a watchdog organisation monitoring the GM industry, welcomed the move. "This is the first time (the government) has refused a new variety of GM crop on food safety grounds. "It is a historic decision and sets a very important precedent," Mayet said.

She said the government's earlier rejection of GM sorghum and GM cassava was on environmental grounds.

Checkbiotech