I've got a few emails with conflicting messages in my inbox. One says that Egypt is banning all GMO crop imports. Another says that Egypt denies banning GMO crop imports. From Reuters:
Egypt's agriculture minister has not issued a decision to ban the import of genetically modified crops, the state news agency MENA said on Thursday, denying an earlier report.
The agency quoted an unnamed official at the Agriculture Ministry as stating that earlier reports citing Amin Abaza ordering that a certificate accompany all imports to show they were free of genetically modified materials were "not correct."
The original report of the decision was published by MENA on Wednesday and picked up by other media.
Egypt is one of the world's largest wheat importers and also imports other products such as corn, edible oils and sugar. It exports products such as vegetables and fruits, particularly to Europe.
Right. So either:
1. Egypt never wanted to ban GMOs,
2. Egypt wanted to ban GMOs, got a backlash, and backed off the ban, denying that they ever did it in the first place, or
3. One rogue official told the press they were going to ban GMOs because he thought they were or because he wanted them to, but the rest of the government didn't want to ban them.
Who knows which of these scenarios is true, but it doesn't appear to me that an Egyptian ban on GMO crops is impending. |
