Africa's most influential pro-GM lobby group is AfricaBio, leading members of which have played a key role in the development of South Africa's regulatory system for GM -- a regulatory system now being promoted to the rest of Africa as an ideal model for other countries to follow.
Till now AfricaBio, which presents itself as a civil society organisation -- 'The NGO taking biotechnology to the people of Africa', has managed to remain vague about who exactly it respresents and has been extremely coy about its founders and main financial backers.
It describes itself as 'a non-political, non-profit biotechnology association' and claims to represent a 'wide spectrum' of support. The word 'trade' is almost invariably absent from AfricaBio's description of itself.
AfricaBio's self-presentation has almost certainly assisted it to gain acceptance for projects such as helping to train staff working in South Africa's supermarkets -- including the UK-based Tesco chain -- to handle questions about GM foods from shoppers, working with women's groups in poor townships, and advising the government of Lesotho with its planned biosafety legislation.
Some, however, have questioned the credibility of its claims to be a disinterested part of civil society. At the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in late August 2002, for instance, AfricaBio unsuccessfully sought to gain formal access to civil society sessions at the Summit, such as the panel of the Biotechnology and GMO Commission of the Civil Society Forum.
AfricaBio complained that 'despite repeated requests' to be included in the programme, its 'participation was refused'. The grounds for refusal were that AfricaBio was in reality an industry body and was seeking to dilute the impact of genuine NGOs. Despite the refusal, AfricaBio's supporters did attend the Civil Society Forum and worked with others to try and undermine it, by first expressing dissent from the floor of the meeting and then staging a walkout. AfricaBio was also respresented at a carefully staged pro-GM protest rally at the Summit.
AfricaBio's grassroots stance, and claims of broad backing, are in marked contrast to the lobby groups with which it is formally aligned. EuropaBio, for instance, openly proclaims itself 'the voice of the European biotech industry', while the Washington DC-based BIO - Biotechnology Industry Organization - presents itself simply as the industry's major trade association.
But disputing AfricaBio's claim to a broad based civil-society style membership has been difficult in the absence of precise details about that membership -- details AfricaBio has consistently refused to furnish. However, Mariam Mayet, a lawyer with the African Centre for Biosafety, was present at AfricaBio's launch on 27th October 1999. At that launch the following list was on a sheet in the folder given out to participants.
To understand the list's full significance, it is necessary to understand how AfricaBio's membership and voting rights operate. Business members have 5 votes, while research organisations and non-business members have, respectively, 2 votes and 1 vote. When this information is put together with what is now known about its founding membership, it is clear that industry organisiations dominate AfricaBio.
Note also that a company like Monsanto SA would have considerably more than 5 votes as it has South African subsidiary companies which are also listed as members, quite apart from whatever other influence a corporation of this size is likely to wileld among other members.
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THIS IS A LIST OF THE FOUNDING MEMBERS OF AFRICABIO WHO ALL PROMOTE AN OPEN AND INFORMED DEBATE ON BIOTECHNOLOGY IN SOUTH AFRICA
1. African Products (Pty) Ltd
2. AgrEvo South Africa (Pty) Ltd
3. Africol (Pty) Ltd
4. ARC-Infruitec Netvoorbij
5. Arc-Range and Forage Institute (ARC-RFI)
6. ARC-Roodeplaat
7. Canning Fruit Producers' Association
8. Carnia Seed [Note: this has been bought by Monsanto]
9. Cotton SA
10. Crop Protection and Animal Health Assocation (AVCASA)
11. CSIR-Division of Food Biological and Chemical Technologies
12. Decidious Fruit Producers' Trust
13. Delta and Pine Lands SA. Inc
14. Dry Beans Producers' Organisation
15. East Cape Agri Care (TERASON)
16. Enzymes (Pty) Ltd
17. Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)
18. Dr Francois Wolfaardt - Personal Capacity [Wolfaardt is a member of South Africa's Advisory Committee on regulatory matters]
19. Goldamer Consulting
20. Grocery Maufacturers Association
21. Innovation Biotechnology [company owned by Muffy Koch who is on a sub-committee of the Advisory Committee which provides expert technical advice on South Africa's regulatory decisions on GM]
22. Institute for Plant Biotechnology
23. Maj Koegelenbert
24. Mayford Seeds (Pty) Ltd [note: Mayford is owned by Sakata Seed Co Japan]
25. Monsanto SA (Pty) Ltd
26. National Chamber of Milling
27. National Cotton Producers Organisation (NACPO)
28. Novartis South Africa (Pty) Ltd
29. Pioneer Hi-Bred RSA (Pty) Ltd
30. Plant-Based Vaccine Group, Detp, Microbiology, University of Cape Town
31. Potatoes South Africa
32. ProBio
33. Prof Brenda Wingfield
34. SANSOR
35. Sasol Technology (Sastech Research and Development)
36. Sensako [note: this is a seed company and has been bought by Monsanto]
37. South African Agricultural Union
38. Technikon Pretoria-Dept of Biotechnology and Food Technology
39. Tomato Producers Organisation
40. University of Cape Town-Dept of Chem Eng, Bioprocessing Engineering Research Group
41. University of Cape Town, Dept of Microbiology [Note: the Dept is headed by Jennifer Thompson, the Chair of South Africa's first regulatory committee SAGENE and a member of its current Advisory Committee, which provides expert technical advice on regulatory decisions]