Better Dead than GM-Fed? Information and theEffects of Consumers’ Resistance to GM-Foods inHigh-Income Countries

This paper addressed the puzzling resistance of Presidents of southern African countries to food aid in 2002, given near certain starvation and long-term negative health effects of malnutrition of their constituents. First, I show that NGOs led by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are disseminating information claiming that GM foods are dangerous to human health and are “Frankenfoods.” Second, people in European Union countries, who are not in any danger of starvation, have strong preferences for non-GM foods, which they can easily afford. Over the long term, however, the tastes of EU consumers matter to southern African countries because some of these countries hope to export agricultural products in the future. GM-food aid, which most likely would contain GM-maize, is seen as a potential contaminant to native African maize varieties, and over the long term to be a threat to south African exports to the EU. Hence, understanding resistance to GM-food in developed countries is crucial to formulation of better food policies in Africa and to sustainable development.[...]