GM FOOD AID: AFRICA DENIED CHOICE ONCE AGAIN? An open letter signed by 65 organizations

OPEN LETTER TO THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME

FOOD SITUATION IN SUDAN AND ANGOLA: CALL FOR WFP TO RESPECT RESTRICTIONS ON GM FOOD AID AND PROVIDE REAL ALTERNATIVES

We, the undersigned NGOs from Africa, hereby register our disquiet at the failure by the WFP to guarantee Angola and Sudan the right to choose whether or not to accept genetically modified (GM) food aid, as the WFP is obliged to do. This failure is borne out in several news reports during March-April 2004, containing acerbic criticisms by the WFP and USAID at the decisions of the Angolan and Sudanese governments to impose restrictions on GM food aid. Moreover, the WFP and other donors have misled these governments by presenting to them a scenario of NO CHOICE: that they either accept GM food aid or face serious consequences.