JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The European Greens and European Free Alliance (EFA) on Saturday slammed the United States for forcing southern African countries threatened by famine to accept genetically-modified (GM) food or starve.

The UN World Food Program (WFP), reliant on U.S. food donations, has warned Zambia - which has refused GM food aid - that if it does not accept this assistance, up to 2.6 million people could face starvation.

"The U.S. is exploiting the poorest countries, [forcing them] to accept GM organisms or starve. They are using this for their own gain," EFA vice president Jill Evans told journalists at a briefing, calling for biodiversity and food safety.

"Zambia, like any country, must have the power to decide what it eats," she said.

The EFA, an alliance of political parties in the European Parliament, and the Greens have joined forces to present six demands to the U.N. Earth Summit in Johannesburg next week.

Enhancing and extending the Biodiversity Convention is one of the six demands.

Evans said they supported the European Union's refusal to reassure Zambia that GM food was safe, on behalf of the United States.

"We welcome the EU's decision not to be used by the U.S.," said Evans.

Close to 13 million people in six southern African countries will face starvation by the end of the year if they are not supplied with relief food, according to the WFP.

The EFA/Green leaders also denounced the United States for its "backward" positions on sustainable development and called on President George W. Bush to change his mind and attend the summit. He is being replaced by U.S. secretary of State Colin Powell as the U.S. representative to the summit.

They demanded concrete progress at the summit in six areas:

- food and water resources

- biodiversity

- corporate social accountability

- renewable energy

- control of hazardous chemicals and waste

- culture and languages

"These six issues for us are the real agenda for Johannesburg and after, the real follow up to Rio [where the first Earth Summit was held in 1991). We want our children to have these six areas implemented," said Monica Frassoni, co-president of the Green/EFA group in the European Parliament.

According to an article published in IslamOnline’s Health and Science section entitled “Genetically Modified Risq” by Hwaa Irfan (7/26/02), many GM plants are still in the experimental stages and actually use MORE herbicide and MORE resources than their non-GM counterparts.

It has also been revealed that GM foods are also more expensive to maintain.