GOVERNMENT NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED ANTI-BIOTECH

UNCLAS HARARE 002305 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PD, AF/S, AF/RA NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PHUM KPAO KMDR ZI SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED ANTI-BIOTECH TRACT ¶1. Under headline "Beware of Americans bearing `gifts'" the government-controlled daily "The Herald" published a silly anti-biotech article attributed to Raj Patel of "Third World Network Features": ¶2. "Food aid from U.S. is increasingly met with suspicion and skepticism by many who describe the export of unlabelled genetically modified food to needy nations as `a dangerous game played with the lives of starving people for political gain. . .' The U.S. Government has been playing this game for well over a decade; the famine in Southern Africa provided merely the latest installment. . . The covert U.S. introduction of GM food into Africa is harmful, for four reasons. First, there is mounting evidence that GM crops maybe unsafe. . . Second, the covert introduction of GM food in the Third World also jeopardizes the possibility of an independent non-GM food policy within the EU. . . The third reason to be worried is that the GM food aid compromises the sovereignty of Southern African countries. . . The reason poor countries now find themselves holding a begging bowl is because of the last `gift' they accepted from the U.S. and EU: structural adjustment policies. . . The notion of `saving lives through food aid' rings a little hollow if we remember this; there were, prior to structural adjustment, ample ways to feed the people, without relying on frankenfood. Southern African countries didn't have much of a choice about becoming beggars, but they can choose what to do next. . ." ¶3. Comment: Publication of this article shows continuing official Zimbabwean hostility toward biotech food in spite of the government's decision to accept it (with conditions) in food assistance. SULLIVAN