Science News Archive

Famine Looms for 6 Million People in Zimbabwe

President Mugabe's seizure of white-run farms in Zimbabwe has pushed the country close to economic ruin, and now threatens to inflict starvation on up to 6 million people. The World Food Programme, based in Rome, has shipped thousands of tonnes of US-grown Maize to Zimbabwe, but Mugabe won't accept the food because some of the crop has been genetically modified. Some feel that this is a reasonable objection and that peoples' rights to reject GM foods shouldn't be disregarded just because they are hungry. But at the same time they shouldn't be rejecting grain, even if it is GM, when peoples' lives are at stake.

3rd Aug 2002