Zambia OKs Offer to Study Altered Food

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Zambia’s president said Tuesday that he would accept U.S. offers to provide his country with research on genetically modified food, after Zambia rejected grain over worries about its safety.

Though nearly 2.5 million Zambians face starvation because of food shortages, the government recently turned down U.S. corn donations that might be genetically modified, saying the corn could pose health risks. U.S. officials offered to help Zambia study modified food.

President Levy Mwanawasa told the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg that he would send researchers to the U.S. U.S. officials confirmed Zambia’s acceptance of the offer.