Although evidence is mounting that GM crops are not safe for consumption and that they pose significant risks for the environment, Africa is still being exhorted to feed its people on GMOs.

The GMO push, backed by big dollars, is coming at a time when the technology is being rejected elsewhere. For instance, in April 1999, the anti-GMO campaign in Europe forced most big manufacturers there to publicly commit themselves to stop using GM ingredients in their European brands.

European anti-GMO campaign received a massive boost from one of the top researchers in the field, Arpad Puszai, in early 1999. Working at the Rowett Institute in Scotland, he managed to prove that rats fed on supposedly harmless GM products developed cells that were potentially cancerous, smaller brains, livers, and testicles, and ended up with damaged immune systems. Puszai found that the rats' plight was due to the unpredictable side-effects arising from the very process of manipulating genes.

By implication, this meant that GM foods already on the European market, which were created from the same process, could also have been having such effects on humans.

The interesting part of the Puszai experiment came when he publicly expressed his concern: He was fired from his job and subsequently silenced with threats of a lawsuit, while his 20-member research team was disbanded. There are also reports that authorities embarked on an extensive disinformation campaign to discredit the study's results and protect the reputation of GM foods.

This scenario was to change when Puszai managed to secure an invitation to testify before the UK parliament. From then onwards, Europeans seem to have fundamentally altered their attitudes to GM foods.

But even with such evidence, Africa is still being enticed with big cash to embrace and consume GMOs with no questions asked. Besides the media, some top scientists working in outfits such as the 15 "harvest centres" under the umbrella of the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and others with such national research organisations as Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) seem to be abetting the process.

Their principal argument is that genetic engineering has the potential to turn around African agriculture from a low productivity, smallholder-dominated and unsustainable sector into one characterised by high productivity, food security and market orientation. Others have argued that Africa cannot afford to ignore the prospects being opened up by the manipulation of naturally occurring genes.

Another argument states, "When GM-biomass is used to generate energy in an efficient and sustainable way, it has a role to play in the fight against climate change."

Greenpeace sees this as yet another of the many myths spread by the biotech giants. It cites counter-argument raised by independent studies that portray fuel based on maize as an "unsustainable" form of bio energy.

"Firstly, the use of maize for ethanol drives up food prices and threatens the food security of the poor in certain regions," says Greenpeace, adding that the carbon dioxide savings from maize-based fuels "are small or even negative" when one takes into account the production techniques used and the source of the energy inputs. Further, it says that the use of genetically engineered maize for biofuels poses an unacceptable risk since the GM-maize designed for industrial fuel contains proteins that are not normally present in the human diet.

It seems, therefore, that GE ethanol maize can easily contaminate the food chain.

"In other words, if the agrochemical industry gets its way, your breakfast cornflakes could soon contain GE ethanol maize, an energy boost you don't need."

That using GM-maize for fuel has the potential to pump toxins into the environment besides causing allergies was underscored by the South African Department of Agriculture, which rejected Syngenta's application for the approval of its GE maize for ethanol in March 2007 on the basis that the company's testing was inadequate.

Interestingly, those who raise concerns over the concerted campaign to introduce GM foods into Africa are often reminded that Americans and, to some extent, Canadians have been cultivating and consuming such foods for over a decade now and that no serious health effects have been noticed.

While this is largely true, there have been recent attempts to kick such foods out of US supermarkets.

For instance, many retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and growers have joined the Campaign for Healthier Eating in America, which hopes to eliminate GMOs from thousands of products. The campaign also aims to force the major food companies to stop using GMOs to make it easier for American families to feed on a "healthier" non-GMO diet. They also hope to totally eradicate genetic engineering from the entire US food supply.