Muffy Koch - Revision history

Tom Griffin: added South Africa category

2009-06-12T00:17:49Z

added South Africa category

Claire Robinson: /* South Africa - GM gateway to Africa */

2009-04-19T19:25:09Z

South Africa - GM gateway to Africa

Claire Robinson: /* South Africa - GM gateway to Africa */

2009-04-19T19:24:38Z

South Africa - GM gateway to Africa

Claire Robinson at 18:44, 12 March 2009

2009-03-12T18:44:19Z

Claire Robinson: /* South Africa - GM gateway to Africa */

2009-01-08T19:53:19Z

South Africa - GM gateway to Africa

Claire Robinson at 18:26, 18 November 2008

2008-11-18T18:26:35Z

Claire Robinson at 18:25, 18 November 2008

2008-11-18T18:25:00Z

Paul: stab at fixing grammar and emphasis of article -- bit scattered and muddled

2007-07-12T19:31:51Z

stab at fixing grammar and emphasis of article -- bit scattered and muddled

David at 20:21, 26 February 2006

2006-02-26T20:21:39Z

David at 20:17, 26 February 2006

2006-02-26T20:17:00Z

@@ Line 48: / Line 48: @@
 ==Notes==
 <references/>
-[[Category:GM|Koch, Muffy]][[Category:Third World Lobbyists (GM)|Koch, Muffy]][[Category:Politicians and Regulators (GM)|Koch, Muffy]][[Category:Biotechnology|Koch, Muffy]][[Category:Pro-GM Lobbyists|Koch, Muffy]]
+[[Category:GM|Koch, Muffy]][[Category:Third World Lobbyists (GM)|Koch, Muffy]][[Category:Politicians and Regulators (GM)|Koch, Muffy]][[Category:Biotechnology|Koch, Muffy]][[Category:Pro-GM Lobbyists|Koch, Muffy]][[Category:South Africa|Koch, Muffy]]

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 However, South Africa&#39;s own biosafety regime is regarded by critics as weak. It has been described by environmental and development lawyers in South Africa as displaying a '[http://www.gene.ch/genet/2003/Jul/msg00054.html cynical disregard'] for contemporary international and national environmental principles, as well as for the development imperatives of South Africa.
-Koch has been a contributor to the UNEP-GEF Biosafety Capacity Building projects. She has also been [http://www.bio-earn.org/publications/Annual%20Reports/Annual%20Report%202002%20Final.doc contracted] to provide 'technical support' for the development of a biosafety manual for East African countries. She is also employed by the USAID-funded Southern Africa Regional Biosafety programme (SARB)<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20020424040007/http://www.iia.msu.edu/absp/links01-3.html Linkages Newsletter Third Quarter 2001, accessed in web archive April 19 2009</ref>.
+Koch has been a contributor to the UNEP-GEF Biosafety Capacity Building projects. She has also been [http://www.bio-earn.org/publications/Annual%20Reports/Annual%20Report%202002%20Final.doc contracted] to provide 'technical support' for the development of a biosafety manual for East African countries. She is also employed by the USAID-funded [[Southern Africa Regional Biosafety]] programme (SARB)<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20020424040007/http://www.iia.msu.edu/absp/links01-3.html Linkages Newsletter Third Quarter 2001, accessed in web archive April 19 2009</ref>.
 SARB was launched in 2000. It promotes in-country 'biosafety capacity building' as part of a regional 'biosafety initiative'. SARB is a sub-unit of a much larger [[USAID]]-funded project, [[Agricultural Biotechnology Support Program (ABSP)]], managed originally by the Michigan State University and more recently by Cornell (ABSP II). ABSP's [http://www.iia.msu.edu/absp/partners.html private sector partners] have included Asgrow, Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-Bred and DNA Plant Technology (DNAP). USAID has said SARB's objective is to provide the ''''regulatory foundation to support field testing of genetically engineered products'''' (emphasis in original).

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 However, South Africa&#39;s own biosafety regime is regarded by critics as weak. It has been described by environmental and development lawyers in South Africa as displaying a '[http://www.gene.ch/genet/2003/Jul/msg00054.html cynical disregard'] for contemporary international and national environmental principles, as well as for the development imperatives of South Africa.
-Koch has been a contributor to the UNEP-GEF Biosafety Capacity Building projects. She has also been [http://www.bio-earn.org/publications/Annual%20Reports/Annual%20Report%202002%20Final.doc contracted] to provide 'technical support' for the development of a biosafety manual for East African countries. She is also employed by the [http://www.iia.msu.edu/absp/links01-3.html#features Southern Africa Regional Biosafety programme (SARB)].
+Koch has been a contributor to the UNEP-GEF Biosafety Capacity Building projects. She has also been [http://www.bio-earn.org/publications/Annual%20Reports/Annual%20Report%202002%20Final.doc contracted] to provide 'technical support' for the development of a biosafety manual for East African countries. She is also employed by the USAID-funded Southern Africa Regional Biosafety programme (SARB)<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20020424040007/http://www.iia.msu.edu/absp/links01-3.html Linkages Newsletter Third Quarter 2001, accessed in web archive April 19 2009</ref>.
 SARB was launched in 2000. It promotes in-country 'biosafety capacity building' as part of a regional 'biosafety initiative'. SARB is a sub-unit of a much larger [[USAID]]-funded project, [[Agricultural Biotechnology Support Program (ABSP)]], managed originally by the Michigan State University and more recently by Cornell (ABSP II). ABSP's [http://www.iia.msu.edu/absp/partners.html private sector partners] have included Asgrow, Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-Bred and DNA Plant Technology (DNAP). USAID has said SARB's objective is to provide the ''''regulatory foundation to support field testing of genetically engineered products'''' (emphasis in original).

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 Muffy Koch's career raises important questions about where the lines are drawn between regulation, lobbying and private companies, and in particular about why an ardent and controversial advocate of a particular technology should be repeatedly employed in a regulatory capacity, as well as in assisting in the development of appropriate systems for its regulation.
-Koch is a former official of the [[South African Committee on Genetic Experimentation]] (SAGENE). [[SAGENE]] became South Africa's official regulator in 1989 and had [[Jennifer Thompson]] as its Chair. SAGENE approved the first GM crops to be grown commercially anywhere in Africa: a Monsanto Bt cotton and a white maize. The latter was a global first - a genetically engineered white maize had never previously been grown commercially anywhere in the world.
+Koch is a former official of the [[South African Committee on Genetic Experimentation]] (SAGENE). [[SAGENE]] became South Africa's official regulator in 1989 and had [[Jennifer Thomson]] as its Chair. SAGENE approved the first GM crops to be grown commercially anywhere in Africa: a Monsanto Bt cotton and a white maize. The latter was a global first - a genetically engineered white maize had never previously been grown commercially anywhere in the world.
-When SAGENE was superceded as a regulatory body, Koch continued to be involved in the regulation of GM crops, serving on a sub-committee of a new Advisory Committee which provided scientific advice on GM crop releases. While it is an Executive Council which is the final decision making body, heavy reliance is placed on the Advisory Commitee to furnish expert scientific and technical advice. A round this time Koch also set up her own biotechnology consultancy, a company trading as Innovation Biotechnology, later relaunched as Golden Genomics.
+When SAGENE was superceded as a regulatory body, Koch continued to be involved in the regulation of GM crops, serving on a sub-committee of a new Advisory Committee which provided scientific advice on GM crop releases. While it is an Executive Council which is the final decision making body, heavy reliance is placed on the Advisory Committee to furnish expert scientific and technical advice. A round this time Koch also set up her own biotechnology consultancy, a company trading as Innovation Biotechnology, later relaunched as Golden Genomics.
 ==South Africa - GM gateway to Africa==
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 Koch has been a contributor to the UNEP-GEF Biosafety Capacity Building projects. She has also been [http://www.bio-earn.org/publications/Annual%20Reports/Annual%20Report%202002%20Final.doc contracted] to provide 'technical support' for the development of a biosafety manual for East African countries. She is also employed by the [http://www.iia.msu.edu/absp/links01-3.html#features Southern Africa Regional Biosafety programme (SARB)].
-SARB was launched in 2000. It promotes in-country 'biosafety capacity building' as part of a regional 'biosafety initiative'. SARB is a sub-unit of a much larger [[USAID]]-funded project, [[Agricultural Biotechnology Support Program (ABSP)]], managed originally by the Michigan State University and more recently by Cornell (ABSP II). ABSP&#39;s [http://www.iia.msu.edu/absp/partners.html private sector partners] have included Asgrow, Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-Bred and DNA Plant Technology (DNAP). USAID has said SARB&#39;s objective is to provide the ''''regulatory foundation to support field testing of genetically engineered products'''' (emphasis in original).
+SARB was launched in 2000. It promotes in-country 'biosafety capacity building' as part of a regional 'biosafety initiative'. SARB is a sub-unit of a much larger [[USAID]]-funded project, [[Agricultural Biotechnology Support Program (ABSP)]], managed originally by the Michigan State University and more recently by Cornell (ABSP II). ABSP's [http://www.iia.msu.edu/absp/partners.html private sector partners] have included Asgrow, Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-Bred and DNA Plant Technology (DNAP). USAID has said SARB's objective is to provide the ''''regulatory foundation to support field testing of genetically engineered products'''' (emphasis in original).
 [[Mariam Mayet]] of the [[African Centre for Biosafety]] points to the influence of SARB on Malawi, a 'core target' country for SARB's programmes. Malawi has been amongst the least restrictive of southern African countries with regard to accepting GM food aid and at the height of the [http://ngin.tripod.com/forcefeed.htm food aid debate] in 2002 it introduced a controversial 'Biosafety Bill'. The Bill while referring to the issue of risks posed by GMOs to human health and the environment in its preamble, took no account of these issues in its operational provisions. Mayet, a lawyer who specialises in legislation on genetic engineering, describes the Bill as 'displaying a flagrant and contemptuous disregard for biosafety.'
@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 Koch's involvement with SARB and UNEP, and still more her continuing regulatory involvement in South Africa, seems curiously at odds with her membership of the industry lobby group, [http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=170&page=A Africabio], where she is in charge of education issues. Koch chairs the AfricaBio Education and Training working group and is also the editor of [http://www.africabio.com/biolines/57.pdf BioLines], AfricaBio's news service.
-[[AfricaBio]] has [[Jocelyn Webster]] as its director and [[Jennifer Thompson]] on its board. Although it is vague about its sources of funding, it is [http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=41&page=1 known to receive] industry money. Monsanto is [http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=41&page=1 known] to be among its sponsors and Delta and Pine, Novartis and Pioneer Hi Breed are also [http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=41&page=1 known] to have been part of the group that established it. [http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=170&page=A AfricaBio]'s declared purpose is to 'provide one strong voice for lobbying the government on biotechnology and ensuring that unjustified trade barriers are not established which restrict its members'. ([http://www.groundwork.org.za/Booklets/BK4.pdf Africabio 2000]).
+[[AfricaBio]] has [[Jocelyn Webster]] as its director and [[Jennifer Thomson]] on its board. Although it is vague about its sources of funding, it is [http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=41&page=1 known to receive] industry money. Monsanto is [http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=41&page=1 known] to be among its sponsors and Delta and Pine, Novartis and Pioneer Hi Breed are also [http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=41&page=1 known] to have been part of the group that established it. [http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=170&page=A AfricaBio]'s declared purpose is to 'provide one strong voice for lobbying the government on biotechnology and ensuring that unjustified trade barriers are not established which restrict its members'. ([http://www.groundwork.org.za/Booklets/BK4.pdf Africabio 2000]).
 In a letter to the campaign group [http://safeage.s5.com/ SAFeAGE] (South African Freeze Alliance on Genetic Engineering), Koch defended her involvement in the industry lobby group, 'I am indeed a member of AfricaBio and this is to fulfil my second passion - the need for public access to balanced and accurate information about biotechnology and biosafety. This is essential to enable stakeholders, consumers and communities to make informed decisions about biotechnology and GM products in general.'
@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 According to an article in the science journal [http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/Dynapage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v426/n6964/full/426224a_fs.html Nature], however, AfricaBio is far from being a source of 'balanced' information: 'AfricaBio, along with agribiotech companies and other pro-biotech campaigners, is now fighting tooth and nail, often by somewhat controversial methods, to spread the word about GM crops...'  The article also says of AfricaBio, 'the group's methods would be considered in some countries to be blatant media manipulation.'
-Koch is not the only member of AfricaBio facing such conflicts of interest. The biosafety work of SARB is co-ordinated within the region by South Africa&#39;s Agriculture Research Council (ARC) - Vegetable and Ornamental Plant Institute - under the direction of its Assistant Director and Program Manager, Dr Graham Thompson. Thompson is on the [http://www.africabio.com/about.shtml Governing Board] of AfricaBio. So too is Jennifer Thompson who was Chair of SAGENE and is a member of the current Advisory Committee. Other members of the Advisory Committee are also said to be members of AfricaBio or to be very closely connected to leading members - for example, by marriage.
+Koch is not the only member of AfricaBio facing such conflicts of interest. The biosafety work of SARB is co-ordinated within the region by South Africa&#39;s Agriculture Research Council (ARC) - Vegetable and Ornamental Plant Institute - under the direction of its Assistant Director and Program Manager, Dr Graham Thompson. Thompson is on the [http://www.africabio.com/about.shtml Governing Board] of AfricaBio. So too is Jennifer Thomson who was Chair of SAGENE and is a member of the current Advisory Committee. Other members of the Advisory Committee are also said to be members of AfricaBio or to be very closely connected to leading members - for example, by marriage.
 Muffy Koch's conflicts of interest, however, are particularly extreme even by South Africa's standards. For instance, on 16 May 2004, South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper published a public notice for a permit application for field trials with GM potatoes, giving the following contact details for the applicant:

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==South Africa - GM gateway to Africa==
-For the biotech industry South Africa is the ideal gateway to the rest of Africa. According to [[Africabio]], the industry lobby group of which Koch is a member, 'South Africa has a national strategy on biotechnology; it has clearly accepted that modern genetic technologies are bringing a wide range of benefits, it has excellent legislation in place, and it is engaged in public awareness activities... The GMO Act that regulates all research, development, field testing, import, export and commercial use is one of the best in the world.' (Press release, May 2004)
+For the biotech industry South Africa is the ideal gateway to the rest of Africa. According to [[AfricaBio]], the industry lobby group of which Koch is a member, 'South Africa has a national strategy on biotechnology; it has clearly accepted that modern genetic technologies are bringing a wide range of benefits, it has excellent legislation in place, and it is engaged in public awareness activities... The GMO Act that regulates all research, development, field testing, import, export and commercial use is one of the best in the world.' (Press release, May 2004)
 Muffy Koch has been active in trying to export this 'biosafety' system to other parts of the continent. Koch is particularly anxious African countries follow the South African model, which has facilitated the rapid introduction of GM crops, rather than The African Model Law developed by the Organisation of African Unity (now the African Union - AU). Koch [http://www.gene.ch/genet/2001/Nov/msg00060.html says] The African Model Law is 'a poor working model, designed to impede rather than promote safe and useful technology. Countries choosing this model will end up with regulations that cannot be implemented and will effectively ban the use of all existing products of GM'.

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:25, 18 November 2008
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	Koch for her part dismisses the critics as coming 'from an anti-colonialist movement, which hides behind the argument of biotechnology to support its thesis'. According to Koch the critics have to 'twist the facts' to do so. 'This is what I oppose,' she says, 'since it is disinformation.' (from a translation of an article in the press in Mauritius, 7 March 2004, 'Questions to Muffy Koch, South African Consultant on transgenic cultivation')		Koch for her part dismisses the critics as coming 'from an anti-colonialist movement, which hides behind the argument of biotechnology to support its thesis'. According to Koch the critics have to 'twist the facts' to do so. 'This is what I oppose,' she says, 'since it is disinformation.' (from a translation of an article in the press in Mauritius, 7 March 2004, 'Questions to Muffy Koch, South African Consultant on transgenic cultivation')
		+
		+	==Notes==
		+	<references/>
		+	[[Category:GM]][[Category:Third World Lobbyists (GM)]][[Category:Politicians and Regulators (GM)]][[Category:Biotechnology]][[Category:Pro-GM Lobbyists]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Along with [[TJ Buthelezi]], Dr [[Jocelyn Webster]] and Prof [[Jennifer Thompson]], Mrs Muffy Koch is one of the key pro-GM lobbyists operating out of South Africa, a country where the uptake of GM crops has been amongst the most rapid anywhere in the world.
+'''Muffy Koch''' is one of the key pro-GM lobbyists operating out of South Africa, a country where the uptake of GM crops has been amongst the most rapid anywhere in the world.
 ==Conflicts of interest==
 Muffy Koch's career raises important questions about where the lines are drawn between regulation, lobbying and private companies, and in particular about why an ardent and controversial advocate of a particular technology should be repeatedly employed in a regulatory capacity, as well as in assisting in the development of appropriate systems for its regulation.
-Muffy Koch is a former official of the [[South African Committee on Genetic Experimentation]] (SAGENE). [http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=282&page=S SAGENE] became South Africa's official regulator in 1989 and had [[Jennifer Thompson]] as its Chair. SAGENE approved the first GM crops to be grown commercially anywhere in Africa: a Monsanto Bt cotton and a white maize. The latter was a global first - a genetically engineered white maize had never previously been grown commercially anywhere in the world.
+Koch is a former official of the [[South African Committee on Genetic Experimentation]] (SAGENE). [[SAGENE]] became South Africa's official regulator in 1989 and had [[Jennifer Thompson]] as its Chair. SAGENE approved the first GM crops to be grown commercially anywhere in Africa: a Monsanto Bt cotton and a white maize. The latter was a global first - a genetically engineered white maize had never previously been grown commercially anywhere in the world.
-When [http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=282&page=S SAGENE] was superceded as a regulatory body, Koch continued to be involved in the regulation of GM crops, serving on a sub-committee of a new Advisory Committee which provided scientific advice on GM crop releases. While it is an Executive Council which is the final decision making body, heavy reliance is placed on the Advisory Commitee to furnish expert scientific and technical advice. A round this time Koch also set up her own biotechnology consultancy, a company trading as Innovation Biotechnology, later relaunched as Golden Genomics.
+When SAGENE was superceded as a regulatory body, Koch continued to be involved in the regulation of GM crops, serving on a sub-committee of a new Advisory Committee which provided scientific advice on GM crop releases. While it is an Executive Council which is the final decision making body, heavy reliance is placed on the Advisory Commitee to furnish expert scientific and technical advice. A round this time Koch also set up her own biotechnology consultancy, a company trading as Innovation Biotechnology, later relaunched as Golden Genomics.
 ==South Africa - GM gateway to Africa==

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 Muffy Koch's career raises important questions about where the lines are drawn between regulation, lobbying and private companies, and in particular about why an ardent and controversial advocate of a particular technology should be repeatedly employed in a regulatory capacity, as well as in assisting in the development of appropriate systems for its regulation.
-Muffy Koch is a former official of the [[South African Committee on Genetic Experimentation (SAGENE]]). [http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=282&page=S SAGENE] became South Africa's official regulator in 1989 and had Jennifer Thompson as its Chair. SAGENE approved the first GM crops to be grown commercially anywhere in Africa: a Monsanto Bt cotton and a white maize. The latter was a global first - a genetically engineered white maize had never previously been grown commercially anywhere in the world.
+Muffy Koch is a former official of the [[South African Committee on Genetic Experimentation]] (SAGENE). [http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=282&page=S SAGENE] became South Africa's official regulator in 1989 and had Jennifer Thompson as its Chair. SAGENE approved the first GM crops to be grown commercially anywhere in Africa: a Monsanto Bt cotton and a white maize. The latter was a global first - a genetically engineered white maize had never previously been grown commercially anywhere in the world.
 When [http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=282&page=S SAGENE] was superceded as a regulatory body, Koch continued to be involved in the regulation of GM crops, serving on a sub-committee of a new Advisory Committee which provided scientific advice on GM crop releases. While it is an Executive Council which is the final decision making body, heavy reliance is placed on the Advisory Commitee to furnish expert scientific and technical advice. A round this time Koch also set up her own biotechnology consultancy, a company trading as Innovation Biotechnology, later relaunched as Golden Genomics.