SA could have GM potatoes soon

Cape Town - According to the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB), a group lobbying against genetically modified food products, an application for the general release of genetically modified potato is to be made within a few days. The potato has been engineered so that it kills a notable crop pest - the tuber moth.

"2008 has been declared 'The Year of the Potato' by the UN General Assembly in honour of the vegetable people around the world love - the humble potato," the ACB said on Thursday. "Ironically, South Africa intends it to be the year that the potato is transformed from a food, into a laboratory-made pesticide."

The lobby group said that the potatoes are being fast-tracked by the Agricultural Research Centre through South Africa's weak and permissive regulatory framework.

"We have a fairly weak pro-biotic regulatory process," said Vanessa Black, a board member of the ACB.

The GM potatoes are touted as tools to benefit small-scale farmers. But Black pointed out: "In reality, the majority of small-scale potato farmers are situated in KwaZulu-Natal, where the tuber moth is not a major pest and the expensive patented technology is way beyond their pockets." She said that rather than helping South African farmers (small-scale or commercial), they could end up with produce they cannot move as they face loss of markets.

Ninety-three percent of South Africa's potato exports are traded in Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries, the ACB said, many of which do not have biosafety laws in place.

"For this reason they are likely to ban the purchase of GM potatoes. Even if they are banned they could still contaminate the continent - a pocket of potatoes bought for consumption can easily be taken across borders and ultimately be planted," the lobby group said.

"Major potato players such as McCains, who dominate the processing and frozen potato industry in South Africa, have indicated their reluctance to use GM potatoes. In the United States, champions of GM technology, GM spuds were shelved because major fast-food chains refused to buy them.

"Egypt terminated their field trials because their major trading partner, the EU, would not buy them."

According to ACB outreach officer Haidee Swanby: "The Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta owns the patents on the genes and will benefit hugely while South African farmers take the risk of growing a crop that has limited markets and consumers take the risk of eating a novel food".

- I-Net Bridge