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Lamy backs African stance on GM aid (Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002 -- CropChoice news) -- Bloomberg, 12/02/02: EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy said yesterday that the European Union (EU) would not persuade African governments to accept donations of genetically modified (GM) foodstuff, rejecting a US complaint that its stance was worsening starvation, adding, "Our policy is very different from US policy. There is no way we are going to change it just for the sake of being nice to the Americans." As many as 14.4 million people in southern Africa need food aid because of grain shortages, according to the UN Food Programme. Zambia and Zimbabwe have refused donations of US maize that includes GM grain. The EU's support of their stance might worsen the famine, US deputy secretary for international trade Grant Aldonas said last month. Lamy, speaking in Johannesburg after visiting four southern African nations (including Zambia) to discuss trade, said he did not ask them to accept GM grain, though he would not discourage them either.