A report on genetically modified (GM) crops due to be published this week has been slammed by the African Centre of Biosafety (ABC).

In a statement on Monday, ABC said the report by the industry-sponsored International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) would present impressive figures showing a ballooning number of hectares planted to GM crops globally, including South Africa.

It would also show that South African farmers were growing 1.8 million hectares of GM maize, soya and cotton.

"These numbers appear impressive - as long as one does not look too closely," ABC said.

It said ISAAA?s report with regard to South Africa?s expansion of GM plantings relied on data provided by FoodNCropBio, a private consultancy firm in South Africa which supplied services to the biotech industry.

"FoodNCropBio?s figures are difficult to verify as there is no official record keeping by the government on the number of hectares grown to GM crops in the country," ABC said.

According to the Crops Estimates Committee, which operated under the aegis of the department of agriculture, fisheries and forestry, the non-segregation of GM and non-GM grains at silos made the keeping of separate records impossible.

The ABC said the ISAAA?s report was "ominously silent" about the crop failures that took place in South Africa during the 2008/09 growing season.

"These failures were caused by Monsanto?s GM varieties, MON 810, NK 603 and MON 810 x NK 603.

"These GM varieties failed to pollinate, leaving up to 200 000 hectares of maize fields barren."

ABC alleged that when these failures occurred, the South African government?s response was to give Monsanto free rein "to clean up the mess".

According to the ABC, Monsanto speedily compensated the affected farmers - "and silencing them with non-disclosure agreements - paid out $42-million".

ABC said Monsanto also hastily submitted a report blaming the failure on the hybridisation process.

"The Executive Council of the GMO Act, which licensed these varieties, accepted Monsanto?s explanation without any independent verification or investigation, despite repeated requests by the ABC for it to do so."

ABC furthermore said the health of South Africans had been overlooked.

"South Africa has the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world that has allowed the genetic modification of her staple food, maize."

ABC said FoodNCropBio made "the disingenuous statement" in its annual report to the Maize Trust that, "some 4.5 million hectares of GM maize were grown over the past nine years, all without any substantiated incidence of damage to human or animal health, or to the environment".

ABC, however, said the absence of adverse effects was more due to a "don?t look don?t find" attitude on the part of the South African government and industry, than the inherent safety of the product.

"The South African government has done no post-commercial release monitoring of GM maize in particular, on human health in South Africa.

"The absence of mandatory labelling of GM foods since their introduction in 1999 does not allow consumers the right to choose or know what they?re eating and therefore cannot trace or report illnesses that may arise due to consuming GM maize."

ABC said although the Consumer Protection Act of 2009 provided for enabling provisions regarding the mandatory labelling of GM foods, the regulations required to make this a reality were still far from finalised.

In response, Wynand van der Walt, a senior partner at FoodNCropBio, said ABC's allegations were not new.

"They pop up every year in an effort by anti-biotech lobbyists to discredit the media releases on growth in biotech crop adoption.

"They have never put any reliable information on the table to support any of their allegations,"he added.