ZNS SHOULD TRACE THE STOLEN GMO MEALIE-MEAL- KEARNS
… says the stolen GMO mealie-meal risks ending up on the Zambian market.
LUSAKA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY,21, 2024
Care for Nature Zambia executive director Nsama Kearns has expressed concern that over 200 bags of mealie meal containing Genetically Modified Organisms- GMO’S have been stolen in the Zambia National Service storage facility at Kasumbalesa Border Post.
Recently Thieves broke into one of the ZNS storage facility which was housing imported Eagle’s mealie meal meant for export to the Democratic Republic of Congo- DRC.
And Speaking in an interview with Mafken FM radio, Ms. Kearns explains that when stakeholders questioned the guarantee of this GMO mealie meal not ending up on the Zambian market, ZNS assured the Nation that it will be under escort all the way to Congo.
She has emphasized the need for robust measures to ensure the traceability of the stolen GMO mealie meal, should it be repackaged and distributed within Zambia.
” Care for nature Zambia is deeply concerned by the news that mealie meal containing GMO has been stolen from Kasumbalesa warehouse where it was been stored and supposedly under the custody of ZNS. As citizens were just concerned when we saw a letter that Zambia is importing mealie meal which contains GMO from South Africa to be exported to the Democratic Republic of Congo via Zambia. We raised concerns because Zambia does not permit GMO to be sold on our markets and ZNS assured that this commodity will be under strict escort from the point of order to the last destination where it is supposedly been exported, now surprisingly this mealie meal has been stolen within Zambia. So what is the guarantee that this mealie meal will not end up in our pots,” she said.
“What is the guarantee that this mealie meal has not been repackaged and being sold elsewhere. This is just an indicator that Zambia is not ready to handle GMOS. We actually count it a blessing that this is actually not live GMO because if it was live GMO it could have spread to places where it could not have been reversed even this situation as it is irreversible because as we speak we dont know if ZNS will be able to trace this mealie meal. Another concern we should learn from this that the way this mealie meal has gone missing it is possible that others can bring in GMO without and sell because we will not be able to know which mealie meal contains GMO and which mealie meal does not contain GMO,” Ms. Kearns said.
And Ms. Kearns appealed to Government not to allow Zambia to be used as a Transit point for GMO foods.
“Our appeal is that Zambia should not be used as a transit point for GMO because we are not ready to handle it.We need to sit as a country to find alternative solutions. We have enough land to grow organic maize which we are able to export to other countries if we invest well in the agriculture sector,” she said.
Mafken FM