RE: BBC NEWS | Africa | Famine-hit Zambia rejects GM food aid

["John Jacobus" <jenday1@MSN.COM>]

Jack and Stewart,

This is a new twist.  I believe that the original problem was not that the

grain GM.  The concern was that the farmers would keep some the grain and

grow it in future years.  Zambia used to be a exporter of grain to other

countries, including those in Europe that refuse to accept GM grain from the

US.  The grain would have been accepted if it was ground into flour for

baking.



This question of it being "poison" may be a bid for sympathy and dodge the

question of why the government is not allowing the grain to be distributed.



I think the analogy to exposure to AIDS as being an acceptable risk is a bit

crude.  Particularly in a part of the world that has been overwhelmed by a

social and medical problem.  I doubt if any one of the victims was aware of

what AIDS was or what the results would be.



-- John



John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

3050 Traymore Lane

Bowie, MD 20715-2024

jenday1@email.msn.com (H)





On Tue, 29 Oct 2002 13:02:56 -0800

Jack_Earley wrote:



Let's see. As I recall, there are about 1.2M orphans in Zambia due to AIDS.

So risky activities are okay if they're known to result in injury, but GM

food is not okay, because they think it might somehow result in injury.

Somethin' wrong with this picture.



Jack Earley

Radiological Engineer



- -----Original Message-----

From: Stewart Farber [mailto:farbersa@optonline.net]

Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 1:35 PM

To: Radsafe

Subject: BBC NEWS | Africa | Famine-hit Zambia rejects GM food aid



Radsafe:

For those interested in foolish applications of risk aversion and a

perverted sense of applying the

"precautionary principle" to a fear of genetically modified foods [similar

to radiophobia among many],

see the link below to Zambia refusing food aid to help millions of its

citizens facing starvation. As Alf

once quipped:

"Dogma, dogma, dog manure"



Once again, politics and fear trumps science and common sense.



Stewart Farber, MS Public Health



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2371675.stm



>From the BBC Story:

Tuesday, 29 October, 2002, 12:36 GMT

Famine-hit Zambia rejects GM food aid



Some 14 million are at risk of famine across the region



The Zambian Government has finally decided not to accept a donation of

genetically- modified food for

nearly three million of its people facing famine.



The decision was taken after the Zambian Government despatched a team of

scientists around the world to

study the potential effects of importing GM crops.



The food aid was initially offered by the international community to Zambia

and five other Southern

African countries, but President Levy Mwanawasa referred to the food as

"poison".



"In view of the current scientific uncertainty surrounding the issue...

government has decided to base

its decision not to accept GM foods in Zambia on the precautionary

principle," Agriculture Minister

Mundia Sikatana said.



. . .



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