- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
Disinformation soils Kenya's GMO debate
A Kenyan government decision to allow imports of genetically modified maize to help combat its food crisis has sparked disinformation, with leading politicians spreading unsubstantiated claims about the health risks of the crops.
In October last year, the East African nation lifted a decade-long ban on the cultivation and importation of GM crops, partly in response to the worst drought to ravage the Horn of Africa region in 40 years which has left millions hungry.
A Nairobi high court later blocked the decision, pending a ruling on a lawsuit brought by a farmers' lobby group which argues that the government move was unlawful.
But the lifting of the ban has triggered a wave of disinformation off- and online.
This included veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga falsely claiming that GM crops caused mutations in humans and President William Ruto making misleading assertions about their use in other countries.
"Both sides of the debate, those who are pro (genetically modified organisms) and those who are against GMOs, have been to some extent propagating that kind of misinformation," Anne Maina, national coordinator at the Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya, told AFP.
A 2023 study by the Alliance for Science, a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, warned that Kenyans were "subjected to the world's worst misinformation" on GM crops.
According to the research, false or misleading claims "primarily originated in the form of quotes from prominent Kenyan politicians", which were then repeated in media reports.
- 'Not supported by evidence' -
Odinga has alleged that eating food made from GM crops would cause men to grow breasts and women to develop testicles. A video of his remarks at a public address on May 7 went viral on Facebook, with one post garnering more than 17,000 views.
Experts say there is no scientific proof of GM crops causing sex changes in humans.
"Claims of gender mutation are not supported by scientific evidence," the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said in an email to AFP.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says GM foods available on the market have passed safety assessments and are unlikely to be harmful.
About a decade ago, Odinga backed GMOs while serving as prime minister. However, he now says his stance was based on "limited information" and has since come to believe GM crops cause human mutations.
This puts him at odds with Kenyan President William Ruto, a GMO supporter who also faces opposition from other politicians.
- Politicised issue -
Ekuru Aukot, who ran in Kenya's 2017 presidential election race, told his 350,000 Twitter followers last year that lifting the ban was akin to "feeding people poison in the pretext of saving their lives".
Meanwhile, 2022 presidential candidate George Wajackoyah asserted that Mexico banned GM crops after cases of men developing breasts and women growing beards.
There is no evidence to back up this claim. In 2020, Mexico ordered the elimination of GM corn by next year, with its leader saying his country would "not accept transgenic corn for human consumption".
But the government rowed back in February following pressure from the US –- its main trading partner and the leading producer of GM crops -– announcing it would allow GM corn for animal feed and industrial food production.
In Kenya, Ruto also contributed to the spread of disinformation when he misleadingly said in a TV interview in January that South Africa and the United States were "100 percent GMO".
South Africa has so far approved the cultivation of only three GM crops while US supermarkets sell organic produce alongside GM products clearly labelled as such.
- Herbicide safety concern -
Many countries allow the import but not the cultivation of GM crops.
In Kenya, the GMO debate is "based on people and not fact", according to Joel Ochieng, the lead agricultural biotechnology researcher at the University of Nairobi.
"We have politicians in Kenya whose main business is to fight each other. Because the current president has said it is safe, the game (of the opposition) is normally to oppose," he told AFP.
Ochieng added that the main safety concern was not linked to the development of GM crops but glyphosate, a herbicide commonly used in tandem with them and which poses potential risks.
The WHO has classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic in humans" and several countries around the world have already banned the weedkiller.
However other agencies including the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) have said that scientific evidence does not justify classifying glyphosate as a carcinogen.
Agriculture is the biggest single contributor to Kenya's economy, generating more than 21 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) last year, according to government figures.
Festus Kavita, a farmer in Machakos, about 65 kilometres (40 miles) southeast of Kenya's capital Nairobi, said he was worried that the political mud-slinging was standing in the way of addressing the country's real problems.
For him, using GMOs for animal feed would allow farmers to grow more organic crops for human consumption.
"It's a lose-lose debate in my opinion because it misses out on actual solutions," he told AFP.
A.Motta--PC