By Elizabeth Renter, Natural Society, http://naturalsociety.com/failed-monsanto-gmo-corn-pushed-african-countries/

Even if you aren’t opposed to genetically  modified crops (with all  this information, how couldn’t you be) and  even if you like Bill Gates and his ventures (but with all  this information, how could you), this latest  should be enough to get you perturbed. And if you are anti-GMO and knowledgeable  of the shady and questionable ways of the Gates Foundation, this latest story  out of Africa will truly make your blood boil.

According to a recent statement from the African Centre for  Biosafety (ACB), failed GM corn from Monsanto is now being pushed on African  countries with help from the Gates Foundation. This maize, known as MON810, has  been grown in South Africa for 15 years, where it “failed miserably”. But so as not to call the seed a complete waste, Monsanto and Bill Gates are now  pushing it into countries like Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya—countries  that need agricultural help.

“Monsanto got the science completely wrong on this one. Independent biosafety scientists have discovered that the inheritance of  resistance in African stem borers is a dominant, not recessive, trait as  erroneously assumed,” explained the Director of the ACB Miriam Mayet. “Hence the  insect resistance management strategies that Monsanto developed, and accepted by  our regulators, based on these erroneous assumptions, were utterly  ineffective.”

What this means, simply, is that pests in South Africa developed a  massive resistance to the chemicals in the corn, annihilating the one prominent  argument for GM crops, that it is resistant to insects. The corn was such  a disaster that Monsanto willingly compensated farmers for the pesticides they  had to spray on their crops to further fight the insects. Compensation from  Monsanto? Weird.

Now, to not waste the waste of a seed, Monsanto has donated the MON810  technology to a “philanthropic” venture of the Gates Foundation and Monsanto  called Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), and they’ve done it  royalty-free.

For small African farmers with few resources, WEMA was seen as a positive  thing, providing seeds that could withstand harsh conditions. But now,  drought-tolerant varieties aren’t the only seeds being pushed onto the  continent.

Kenya and Uganda have already begun field trials on MON810. Mozambique is  changing their biosafety laws to allow the GM crop and WEMA is putting  pressure on Tanzania to do the same. Currently, Tanzanian biosafety laws  allow Monsanto to be held “strictly liable” for damages that could arise from  the use of MON810; WEMA is understandably opposed to this. After all, they know  the dangers associated with their crops even if they don’t want to admit it.

Interestingly, and frighteningly, MON810 has been genetically altered into a  variety of Egyptian corn known as “Ajeeb Yieldgard” which has already been  patented by Monsanto and approved for commercial growing while circumventing  Egyptian biosafety laws. The Egyptian government itself has published  peer reviewed studies indicating the risk of MON810 to human and animal  health.

Put best by ACB researcher Haidee Swanby, “The scariest revelation is  that GM producers and regulatory authorities are making it all up as they go  along, while the massive biotech PR machinery spreads the myth that these crops  are connected to feeding the poor in Africa.”

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