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26 CHAPTER 1


genetically modified organisms (GMOs) through the provision of guidelines and the approval of research centers and projects. SAGENE gained statutory sta- tus in 1992 as the national advisory committee on modern GM biotechnology. The approval for the commercial release of Bt cotton and maize was done under the guidelines of SAGENE for the 1997/98 and 1998/99 seasons. These guide- lines and procedures remained the biosafety framework cornerstone until South Africa’s GMO Act 15 of 1997 was approved by Parliament in June 1997 and entered into force in November 1999, when the regulations were published. In 1999 SAGENE was replaced by the scientific Advisory Committee that was established under the GMO Act (Wolson and Gouse 2005). The South African GMO Act 15/1997, as amended in 2006, provides a comprehensive biosafety framework to manage research, development, application, production, and trade in GMOs. The GMO Secretariat is housed in the Department of Agriculture, and decisionmaking is vested in the GMO Executive Council that represents eight government departments. The Council is advised by a national Advisory Committee of scientific experts. Since implementation, the GMO legislation has served the country well in


its balanced approach to modern biotechnology and its applications. However, more recently there have been some unclear delays in the decisionmaking pro- cess, and the scientific community and academia have expressed concern that decisionmaking has become less scientific and a lack of transparency in the process could lead to an increase in the cost of regulation and in the opportu- nity cost for research institutions, innovators, and in reality, consumers.


Bt Cotton


In 2007 GM cotton globally covered 15 million hectares (43 percent of total world cotton), of which Bt varieties accounted for 10.8 million hectares and a further 3.2 million hectares as Bt combined with a second Bt or with an herbicide-tolerance trait (James 2007). In 2009 the global GM cotton area increased to 16.2 million hectares and in 2011 to 25 million or 68 percent of global cotton plantings (James 2009, 2011). Historically, cotton has been responsible for about 25 percent of global chemical insecticides used in agri- culture due to attacks by a range of insect pests (Woodburn 1995), with cot- ton bollworm being the main pest. In an effort to reduce insecticide use and with insect resistance build-up against chemicals, Bt technology has offered a cost-saving and environmentally friendlier alternative. Cotton planting in South Africa declined from its peak of 180,000 hect- ares in 1988 (under tariff protection) to just over 5,000 hectares in 2010 due


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