Scottish Parliament Motion on GM entry refusal, Kenya, South Africa

*S3M-6119 Bill Wilson: Biodiversity Coalition Opposes GM Contamination. That the Parliament notes reports that 40,000 tons of genetically modified (GM) maize from South Africa have been refused entry to Kenya as a result of protests led by the Kenya Biodiversity
Coalition;

Further notes, with reference to motion S3M-05873 by Bill Wilson.

Who Benefits from GM Crops and Large-scale Agribusiness?, that Monsanto, widely condemned for what are considered to be its unscrupulous practices, is reportedly responsible for three of the four varieties of maize in the shipment; agrees with the reported comments of Mariam Mayet of the African Centre for Biosafety that South Africa¹s decision to permit the export was irresponsible and that it appears that South Africa is being used as a springboard to contaminate the rest of the African continent by allowing multinationals to export from South African soil; is troubled by the South African Government¹s apparent flouting of the provisions of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety; disagrees strongly with the implication of a statement by the chairman of the South African parliamentary committee on agriculture, forestry and fisheries, Mlungisi Johnson, that GM crops enhance food security, and calls on the Kenyan Government to refuse entry to the South African GM maize and for the South African Government to report on all economic links between its officials and Monsanto and to ban GM crops in the long-term best interests of the people of Africa, not least with respect to the security of their food.