The agricultural technology company, Bayer, has applied to the South African government for commodity clearance of three genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that may be present as stacked genes in imported maize products.

By Nico van Burick, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad

The application to the Registrar of GMOs is a legal requirement if GMOs are to enter the country. In this case, it is not for seed or plant breeding, but for grain that enters the country in processed form for food or feed and may contain some of these genes that are not available in South Africa.

Liza Bohlman, spokesperson for crop science for Bayer in Southern and Eastern Africa, says it is a normal regulatory obligation for companies that own this GM technology to obtain commodity clearance from countries to which products are imported or exported.

She says South Africa has similar processes if it wants to export maize products such as flour or animal feed to countries in Africa. There is a clearance process in the countries concerned for the sake of transparency so that stakeholders can comment on it.

If South Africa wants to import GM seeds for field trials with a view to breeding the seeds, an application must also be made to the registrar, but it is a more complicated process to get a GMO approved for commercial production.

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The three GM products for which clearance is now being sought contain combinations of 7 stack genes known in the industry as MON87427, MON89034, MIR162, MON95275, MON88017, MON94804 and NK603. The products were developed through conventional breeding to combine the various genetic traits into a single product.

The biotechnological traits promoted by these genes include protection against insect pests, tolerance to herbicides containing glyphosate and genetic modification to control or reduce plant height for agronomic purposes.

Bayer emphasizes that extensive safety studies and risk analyses have been conducted on the GM plants and that scientific studies show that the GM crops are safe for consumption and also have benefits for producers. Many GM crops have already been approved in South Africa for food, feed, processing and commercial planting.