Scientists are attempting to combat food security issues in Tanzania with genetically modified crops, writes Sharon Schmickle in The Guardian. “African countries and research organizations, working together in the Water Efficient Maize Project,” have already developed a strain of corn has the ability to grow during periods of drought, which would be offered freely to farmers. However, anti-GMO sentiments from Europe have spread to Tanzania, delaying trials of the GM corn.
“Opposition to biotechnology in Africa started before there was much scientific research on the subject outside South Africa. So Africa’s first import was opposition to the technology before the products got there,” said Calestous Juma, a Harvard professor of international development and a native Kenyan. “This was because the [European Union] constructed a resistance industry and exported it through a variety of channels.”
Read the full, original story here: “Tanzania becomes latest battleground for GM food supporters and opponents”
