Interview with Mark Lynas, Anti GM activist turned Pro-GM supporter.

 

The fear for consuming genetically modified foods in sub-Saharan Africa is being imported from abroad, Europe in particular. Billions of dollars are now going in funding NGO’s engaged in promoting fear and superstition about GM foods. ISAAC KHISA and STEVE MBOGO caught up with Mark Lynas during his tour in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania under the auspices of Open Forum of Agricultural Biotechnology to give lecturers on GM foods and here are the excerpts:



Mark Lynas

Presently many African countries do not allow growing of GM crops except South Africa, Burkina Faso, Egypt and now Sudan, citing lack of legal frameworks. What needs to be done to necessitate easy adoption of the GM crops?

 

There are two things that need to happen. One is that regulatory frameworks need to be established, like the Biosafety Bill now being considered by Parliament in Uganda. This would give the scientists the legal context they need to proceed with their important work, rather than being in a state of constant political uncertainty.

The second thing that needs to happen is for the general public to be better informed about the technology - all the lies about GM crops making you sterile, incorporating genes from pigs and so on need to be more aggressively confronted. People need to understand that these crops are identical to others except for the single genetic change which scientists are aiming for, such as resistance to diseases or drought. The misconceptions must be tackled.

There have been views by a section of people proposing the GM foods be identified with labelling as it is demanded by some countries in Europe. Do GM and non-GM foods differ in appearance or taste? What is your comment on this?

I visited the GMO cassava which is in field trials at National Crops Resources Research Institute in Namulonge - the cassava is identical to any other, except that it is much healthier because it seems to be successfully resisting the disease. People should go and see this for themselves. The same goes for the banana, although I cannot say for sure because you are not allowed to taste them yet! I ate some GMO papaya recently in the US and it was the nicest I have ever had - even better than the paw paw here in Uganda!

As to labelling, I think that would be completely unworkable here in Uganda, where 80 percent or more of food is sold in open air markets. Once the food is assessed as safe, people should just treat it like any other and stop listening to scare stories.

As you have clearly stated that they look and even taste better than organic crops, why have people especially in Sub Saharan African continued to fear consuming GM foods?

Because this fear is imported from abroad, Europe in particular. There are billions of dollars now going in funding to the NGOs which are promoting fear and superstition about GM foods. Being an NGO activist is a lucrative professional career choice, which can make more money than going into business. NGO people claim to be 'instant expert' and to be always included in major decisions as 'civil society'. I would question the legitimacy of many of these organisations. Also this is a great waste of talent, because there are real challenges that these NGOs should be focusing on - like protecting forests and biodiversity, reducing the terrible traffic pollution that is causing cancer and so on.

What are the likely consequences if developing countries failed to move faster and adopt the growing of GM crops?

Clearly GM crops are not the single solution. They may not even be the most important - farmers need to have irrigation, fertilisers and better roads so they can take surplus produce to market without it being spoiled and wasted. But if GM banana and cassava are prohibited, for example, then it is likely these crops will be lost from much of eastern and central Africa because of the bacterial and viral diseases that are affecting them - they simply will be wiped out, removing a major staple food source for tens of millions of people. There are no naturally resistant banana varieties to the bacterial wilt disease, so they will all die. This would clearly be very bad news for food security.

Over the years, you have been renowned anti-GM activists, an environmental writer, who even went ahead to form a movement against the GM crops. Why have you changed your mind now? Have you been bribed or what informed your decision?

I am always asked this because people want an excuse to try to attack me personally rather than to engage with the science or my arguments. I have never received any money from any company involved in the GM business, and I never will. My change of heart came about because I wanted to be a better science communicator and a better environmentalist - and you do not achieve that by fighting against scientific facts.

What should developing countries especially sub-Saharan Africa do given that there are so many controversies surrounding GM crops especially those proposing as well as those opposing it?

The controversy is fake. One, one side you have activists peddling lies and misinformation, which they get from the Internet or from their donors in Europe. On the other there are scientists who make very cautious statements because they want to stick to the facts. It is very much like climate change, where one side you have those who deny the science, and on the other people who try to assess the situation rationally.

Based on your research and having involved in GM issues for a longtime, do you think GM crops are the solution to food shortages in sub-Saharan Africa and is it the right time for Africa to resort to GMOs?

That is up to different African countries to decide. But I would suggest that their decisions would be better made on facts rather than on fiction. It would always be too simplistic to say that GM crops are "the solution", but all other things remaining equal, if you are in a drought and you have a drought-tolerant GM maize then you will likely get a better harvest. If you are in an area badly affected by cassava brown streak virus and you want to grow this crop for food security, you will be better off with a GM variety which is resistant to the disease. And so on for banana and the other crops which are being proposed.

The anti-GM activists, including yourself before you changed your mind have argued that GM crops have both health as well as environmental hazards. What is your take on this; what is your evidence to show that foods from GM crops are safe?

It is not 'my' evidence which is the issue - I am not a scientist. I have not personally tested these crops (except to eat GM foods in various countries without fear, of course) so I insist that people who are unsure should get their information from the experts rather than the activists. It is the same as if you maybe have an illness, and all of the doctors say you should have treatment, but a taxi driver says you should forget about it and take the chance. Who would you trust? Those who know what they are talking about because they have sufficient training or the uninformed person? On GM, the experts say it is completely safe: all the major relevant scientific institutions in the world have issued statements to that effect. Even so, you have to look at these things on a case by case basis - different techniques are used in different plants which could have different effects. That is why they are so extensively tested in field trials and so on before being released. But for the last 10 years with billions of people eating GM foods across the whole world, no-one has even had a headache - that is why this is a fake controversy. Food is food.

Could you comment on the issue that growing GM crops will enslave farmers in developing countries as they will be forced to buy seeds every planting season and hence creating markets for the multinational companies such as Monsanto and Syngenta. Is this what is likely to happen if farmers resort to growing GMO’s?

This is nonsense. It is another myth which will not die. The cassava which is being developed will be able to be propagated like any other, as will the banana. So once farmers have it, it will remain in their control. All this language about 'farmer enslavement' comes from activists who do not want African farmers to be able to access modern technology and romanticise the 'traditional' agriculture which is currently failing to feed people and leaving millions with malnutrition.

How do you look at the future of GM crops in Africa? Do you think growing GM crops is likely to speed up population growth in developing countries given that there will be enough food and the vicious cycle of food shortage continues?

I find the population growth argument abhorrent and immoral. You should always aim to feed people, having enough food is a human right. You should not keep people in near starvation to try to stop them having more children. Maybe we should just stop vaccination campaigns so that children all die before they can grow up? That would also reduce population growth. It would also be a crime against humanity.

Now that you are a supporter of GM crops, what is your view on those against the GM foods in Uganda and other developing countries?

I am not pro-GM, I am pro-choice. All the farmer leaders I have met in Uganda say they would like the choice to decide for themselves what to grow, and not be dictated to by foreign-sponsored activists. If they want to stay with the traditional seeds, then farmers have that right. No-one is going to come onto their farms and stop them saving their own seed. But the truth is they will then continue to have very low yields and to remain in food insecurity. With improved seeds (I am thinking even of hybrids, not necessarily GMO), yields of things like maize can be four times what you get from the traditional varieties. So farmers who want them also have that right. Africa very quickly adopted mobile phones and the internet, so the idea that places like Uganda are not "ready" for modern technology in agriculture is I think reactionary and patronising.

Who is Mark Lynas?

Mark Lynas is a British author, journalist and environmental activist who focus on climate change and GMOs. Formerly, he was against GM foods before changing to become pro-GM crops.

He is the author of several books on the subjects. In November 2009 Mark was appointed advisor on climate change to the President of the Maldives, Mohammed Nasheed, and was involved in the Maldives’ effort to be the first carbon neutral country on Earth by 2020, and its role in the international climate change process, until Nasheed was deposed in a military coup on 7 February 2012.

He is a frequent speaker around the world on climate change, biotechnology and nuclear power. He is a Visiting Research Associate at Oxford University’s School of Geography and the Environment, a member of the advisory board of the science advocacy group Sense About Science, and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies, which produces an annual top 10 list of the technologies with most potential to change the way we all live. Ends