New law facilitating the entry of GMOs into Senegal: Senegal in danger!

1. New GMO law in Senegal.     

On June 3, 2022, Senegal adopted a new law facilitating the entry of GMOs into the country, a law adopted under pressure from the pro-GMO lobby, which seeks to expand its markets in Africa.

The 2022 law repealed the 2009 GMO law. The new law no longer contains an important principle appearing in article 18 of the 2009 law: principle of prohibiting “importing or placing on the market of the GMOs susceptible to cause environmental degradation or an ecological imbalance, or harm human or animal health”. For COPAGEN, Coalition for the Protection of African Genetic Heritage, the suppression of this principle is an irresponsible act! The ANB, National Biosafety Authority, which led the work on the new law and whose mission is to prevent biotechnological risks, has, on the contrary, worked for the promotion of GMOs in Senegal!

The adoption of the law was carried out by a very incorrect procedure: a vote one month before the end of the mandate of the 13th legislature, unanimously, without debate and under emergency procedure!

The 2022 law was adopted following the principle of harmonization requiring compliance with the ECOWAS Regulation 2020. This regulation, adopted in the greatest silence, and unknown, until now, to the populations of the region, establishes, in its article 9, the free circulation of GMOs in the ECOWAS area. For COPAGEN, the free circulation of GMOs is unacceptable!

The 2022 law means for Senegal the danger for family farming and for the health of the population. This law concerns, above all, GMO seeds produced by multinational firms which seek to sell their seeds, a source of their profit!

2. Danger of GMO seeds for family farming.

A genetically modified organism, GMO, or transgenic organism, is an organism whose genetic heritage has been modified by transgenesis technology (a branch of genetic engineering) in a way that does not occur naturally. DNA is a “molecule of life” that contains the genetic information, which determines the organism structure and function. A gene is a piece of DNA that controls a particular trait.

Example: cowpea resistant to insect pests received a gene from bacteria called Bacillus thuringiensis which controls the production of a toxic substance; This gene is called the Bt gene, named after the bacteria, donor of the gene. Cowpea that has received the Bt gene is called Bt cowpea.

GMOs are incompatible with peasant agriculture based on peasant seeds (local or traditional) which represent the basic diet of the populations of Africa.

The introduction of GMO varieties causes the disappearance of peasant varieties and their contamination by GMOs.

Concretely, here are the GMO crops that threaten Senegal:

·         GMO corn disseminated by certain projects and NGOs,

·         Bt cotton,

·         Bt cowpea, so-called insect resistant, is specially designed for Africa!

There is a great threat of introduction of Bt cowpea in Senegal.

The project aimed at the introduction of Bt cowpea in West Africa, existing since 2005, is financed by the USAID, the Rockefeller and Gates Foundations. Bt cowpea was authorized in Nigeria in 2019 (SAMPEA 20-T variety) and in Ghana in 2021 (709 A variety). Field tests of new Bt cowpea varieties are being carried out in Burkina Faso. ISRA, the Senegalese Agricultural Research Institute, is participating in the cowpea project through the NGICA, Network for the Genetic Improvement of Cowpea for Africa, one of the Bt cowpea project partners.

Obtaining of Bt cowpea varieties includes 2 steps:

·           transfer of the Bt gene (called Cry1Ab), supplied by Monsanto, into a variety of cowpea, by the transgenesis method, was carried out in Australia, by the CSIRO, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.

·           crossings of the obtained product with local varieties, in order to guarantee adaptation to the local environment, were carried out by African national research institutions.

The Bt cowpea project is anti-scientific!

1)     West Africa is the center of origin of cowpea. The centers of plant origin are places on the globe where plants were domesticated from their wild ancestors. These places are very riches iin agricultural biodiversity, therefore, they are of great interest for agriculture. The science of genetics requires the protection of the centers of plant origin against contamination by GMOs.

2). Bt cowpea is designed to be resistant to only one type of insect pest: the pod borer called Maruca (Maruca vitrata); this cannot solve the problem of parasitism in cowpea which is attacked by several insect pests, apart from Maruca: trips, aphids, bruchid, etc.

3) The resistance of Bt cowpea to Maruca attacks is ephemeral: 3 – 5 years, it is the vertical type of resistance which is known to lack durability, following the appearance of mutant insects capable of attacking Bt cowpea.

4) Since each cell of the Bt cowpea produces the Bt toxin, the Bt cowpea causes disturbances of the rhizosphere (the area of soil surrounding the plant root) and of the soil organisms, following the secretion of the toxin by the roots.

3. Danger of GMO seeds for health.

The question of the GMO impact on health is under overwhelming pressure from the industry which seeks to control research.

American GMO legislation (which governs Monsanto’s GMOs) is very lax:

•  the toxicological tests are carried out by the company itself – the conflict of interest situation !

•  the tests are short-lived: 90 days, incapable of detecting long-term effects of the toxins bioaccumulation,

•  they are dealing with a small number of parameters of the studied animals;

•  the animals have a diet with a low concentration of GMOs (5 – 10%).

There are several obstacles to independent research on GMOs: a lack of funding, the reluctance of companies to provide GMO seeds for analysis, a situation encouraged by patents on GMO seeds. The results of research that finds the GMO toxicity are often suppressed or discredited and the careers of these researchers are destroyed.

Despite all these obstacles, there are hundreds of studies, which found deleterious effects of GMOs on animals fed GMOs: toxic effects causing damage to organs, allergic effects, mortality, reduction of fertility, tumors, etc.

GMO GM Rats

A highly publicized study by Giles-Eric Séralini published in 2012 is well known throughout the world. The study showed that laboratory rats fed for 2 years (long-term study) with herbicide-tolerant corn, NK 603 variety, had high mortality and developed large tumors and severe damage to organs: liver, kidneys, pituitary gland, stomach and small intestine. The publication presenting photos of rats showing large tumors caused strong media and political agitation described as the Séralini affair.

There are several multigenerational studies, which have demonstrated that the diet containing GMOs causes severe alterations of different organs, immune disorders and reduction of animal fertility. Among these studies are an Austrian government-funded study by Juegen Zentek on 4 generations of mice and an Australian government-funded study by Judy Carman on pigs for 22.7 weeks (the lifespan normal of a commercial pig) (Velimirov 2008 and Carman 2013). The Austrian and Australian governments have rejected the findings of GMO studies they funded. Multigenerational studies by Ermakova, Kilic, Trabalza – Marinucci and Krzyzowska also show deleterious effects of GMOs on animals.

Several studies covering a wide range of parameters (histological, biochemical, cytogenetic, etc.) have shown that animals fed GMOs had alterations in organs, their cells and DNA fragmentation (Oraby, Kiliçgün, Gab-Alla, Shamei, Abdo, Ibrahim, Sekily and Vendomois).

There are very few studies on the effect of GMOs on humans. Most studies are done on laboratory animals.

One of the few human studies, done by doctors in Quebec, Canada, and led by Aziz Aris, looked at the effect of GM foods on pregnant women and their fetuses, since the fetus is considered very sensitive to harmful effects of toxic agents . The study involved 30 healthy pregnant women, examined at the time of delivery. It showed the presence of the Cry1Ab toxin characteristic of Bt plants in the blood of pregnant women and their fetuses, with significant proportions (respectively 93% and 80% in maternal and fetal blood samples). These conclusions contradict the thesis of the biotechnology industry which asserts that there is no transfer of transgenic genes, and the toxins they govern, into human or animal cells since the transgenic DNA and corresponding toxins are efficiently broken down by digestive enzymes in the digestive tract of mammals

It is important to note that the diet of the women monitored was not controlled by the study; they had a usual Canadian diet including the widespread use of transgenic foods (soy, corn, etc.). Monsanto disputed the study’s conclusions.


Concretely, here there are the food products containing GMOs that can be found in Senegal (most often sold without a “GMO” label, despite the fact that Senegalese regulations require the labeling of GMOs and their products: article 125, law biosecurity, Senegal, 2022):

·           GMO corn seeds from food aid,

·           GMO corn and soybean seeds, Bt cotton oilcakes  for livestock and poultry feed (with GMOs which are subsequently found in the human body),

·           GMO soybean and sunflower oil, with GMO soybean coming from Argentina or Brazil (two major producers of GMO soybean and corn), vegetable oil (mixture) containing GMO soybean oil,

·           imported processed food products (from the United States of America, Canada or France), containing GMO corn, soybean and rapeseed flour or oil: biscuits, ketchup, sauce, breakfast cereals , cornflakes, creams, cakes, chocolate, confectionery, industrial dishes, etc.

In the United States of America and Canada, GMO seeds and products are not labeled “GMO”, the result of lax regulations favorable to companies.

Irina Vekcha, professor of genetics at ENSA, University of Agriculture, Senegal.

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