A detailed look at the hunger crisis in Zambia where shipments of U.S. genetically modified corn is rotting in storehouses. Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has rejected US corn because he believes that it poses health risks to his people.
The prospect of the United States delivering genetically modified food aid has inflamed a debate in starving southern Africa about the gene-altered foods. At stake are the lives of 13 million people in six countries in the region in desperate need of food. Without urgent assistance, their situation will deteriorate to famine in the next few months, aid agencies have warned.
Genetically modified farmed-fish will feed the world by the year 2025 as global catches decline, predicts a US scientist. GM fish farms will be the only way to supply enough seafood amid the continuing collapse of commercial marine fisheries, believes Professor Yonathan Zohar, of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute.
For the first time, scientists report mapping the genes of a plant disease, an advance that could lead to new approaches to fighting a bacterial scourge that ravages orange groves and other crops.
Sparred by the need to feed billions of people in the coming decades, scientists have genetically engineered crops like soya beans, potatoes, fruits and millet, with research showing that 28 million hectares of genetically produced crops being grown just this year alone.
The author argues that national security analysts should pay attention to global food policy as famines could spark wider resource conflicts.