London (19 January 2006) – What you do – and where you do it – can really upset things.

One of the latest concerns in the unending fears about transgenic crops and foods has hit South Africa. It is felt by some sensitive people that foreigners visiting local campsites and defecating in adjacent open spaces can pose a serious genetic threat to the environment.

The reason is that such wicked foreigners may in Europe (sic!) have consumed a genetically modified food with seeds, travelled to South Africa within hours and there performed their dirty deeds, discharging undigested seeds into the purity of the pristine South African environment.

This submission was made with respect to the Genetically Modified Organisms Amendment Bill now being considered; it calls on the committee to plug the loophole although quite how that might be done is not made clear.

CropGen is reminded of a related and possibly apocryphal story, current about eight years ago, in which it was rumoured that UK anti-GM activists succumbed to paroxysms of fear when British scientists ate some GM tomatoes to prove that they were not toxic. The activists demanded that the scientists be quarantined until all seeds had passed through their digestive tracts and were properly disposed of.

The scenario may not be entirely far-fetched. Someone in charge of inspecting sewage treatment plants reported that the most startling feature of sewage treatment lagoons in late summer is the lush crop of tomatoes growing at the margins. The fruits rivalled any he had ever seen in food shops or in farmers' markets but he could bring himself to eat any of them.

Source:

Campers' loo habits 'a threat'. NEWS24.com (17.1.06) (http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1864639,00.html)

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