2019-03-04 | permalink

Failure of Monsanto’s drought tolerant maize pushed on Africa – confirmed in US

Genetic engineering, through the use of a single gene, cannot address the complexity of drought

The ACB shares with you a blog written by ACB’s Sabrina Masinjila and KBIOC’s Anne Maina

A recent United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) report confirms what independent biosafety scientists, and African civil society, have been stating all along: Monsanto’s drought tolerant (DT) maize (MON87460) does not work!

The USDA report reveals that performance of corn (maize) varieties transformed with the genetically engineered (GE) trait claimed to be DT is poor in terms of both yields and adoption rates, as compared with non-GE (conventionally bred) DT corn.

Findings of the USDA report

Non-GE DT corn was introduced in the US in 2011 and GE DT corn in 2013. By 2016, at least 80% of US DT corn acres were planted with conventionally-bred varieties and only 3% with GE DT seed. The report states that the diffusion of GE DT corn has lagged behind the diffusion of the non-GE DT hybrids, confirming non-performance of the GE drought trait.

• African Centre for Biosafety: Failure of Monsanto’s drought tolerant maize pushed on Africa – confirmed in US