The Dairy Association of Zambia (DAZ) maintains that the government’s regulatory framework for dairy products is de facto applying double standards with regard to use of both the growth hormone recombinant Bovine somatotropin (rBST) and the use of GM crops in animal feed. DAZ, according to the Zambia Post newspaper, points out that while prohibiting their use in Zambia, the government allows imports of “dairy products from countries that allow use of bovine somatotropin hormone and GMOs in milk production”. Representatives of DAZ appeared to argue that the higher yields arising from the use of rBST and the lower costs of feed arising from the use of GM crops in dairy feed are leading to price advantages for external producers, resulting in “an influx of imported long life milk and other dairy products” (imports are reported to be 40–50% cheaper than locally produced dairy products).

DAZ has therefore called for “a ban on the importation of dairy products from countries that allow use of bovine somatotropin hormone and GMOs in milk production”. The Association noted that the EU already has a ban in place on dairy products produced from milk derived from cows treated with rBST, and maintains that the EU ban was based on “consumer health risks and inhumane treatment of animals through the use of hormones”. Wikipedia notes, however, that while the EU placed a moratorium in 1990 on the sale of milk from rBST-treated cows by all member states (which became a permanent ban from 1 January 2000), “the decision was based solely on veterinary concerns, laws, and treaties”, and not on scientific evidence of the health effects, on which no clear evidence apparently yet exists.

Discussions that took place in Namibia in July suggest that trade issues form an important factor in considerations as to whether to allow the domestic use of rBST or similar growth hormones. In the face of efforts to protect the Namibian milk sector from dairy imports from South Africa, where rBST is used extensively, it has been pointed out that while “the use of hormones would lower production cost”, it would “result in EU export bans and harm the red meat industry”. 

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Background

The use of rBST in milk in the production of dairy products in South Africa for export to Namibia formed part of the Namibian Dairy Producers Association’s application for quantitative restrictions on imports of dairy products, which were duly introduced by the Namibian government on 16 September 2013. In challenging this Namibian government measure in the court, Clover Industries maintained that it periodically obtains “undertakings/confirmations” from its milk producers confirming that “no raw milk supplied to Clover had originated from animals which had been treated with synthetic hormones such as recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST).”

The use of hormones and GM crops in feed used in dairy products is thus already a hot issue in trade in dairy products in Southern Africa, forming part of legal disputes that challenge the use by governments of trade policy measures.

Currently, there would appear to be a trend towards court battles setting the parameters for important aspects of government trade and production process policies in the dairy sector in some Southern African countries. The question arises as to whether production process issues in the dairy sector would not be better addressed through sector-based regional trade negotiations, rather than an accumulation of customary law.

However, the experience in East Africa suggests that setting regional production standards for dairy products is far from straightforward. In 2011, it emerged from World Bank-supported analysis that proposals for regional standards based on international norms were “unrealistic”, with the required microbiological levels “unreachable for nearly the entire EAC industry”. It was argued that the application of these draft standards could lead to “most EAC dairy products… [being] denied entry with reference to the harmonized EAC standards” (see Agritrade article ‘Initiatives to establish an EAC regional dairy development strategy’, 6 October 2011)

Against this background, national policy decision making, which may then be contested in the courts, is likely to be the principal terrain on which these production process standard issues are fought out.