In their defence, multinationals that have adopted synthetic technology say their aim is to acquire natural ingredients of products that are either too hard to grow or are not grown in sufficient quantities.

Evolva says on its website: “By combining modern genetics with traditional brewing, we remove these issues. We take everyday baker’s yeast and give it the same ability to make the ingredient as the original plant or animal. Now, we can make the ingredient as if it was bread or beer. The better quality, and lower price mean far more of us can enjoy the ingredient and its benefits.”

But this has not pacified critics, who say that the commercial production of the products is taking place at a break-neck speed, leaving most of the developing countries little time to develop measures that would insulate them from the possible side effects of the products.

ETC Group says that in 2000, the price of synthetic DNA was about $10 per piece but by the end of 2007 it had fallen to 50 US cents and that more than 10,000 laboratories worldwide have the technical capacity to conduct synthetic biology research.

Massive campaign

More than 110 organisations, including trade unions, environmental groups, faith groups, farmers’ organisations and science groups have launched a massive campaign against the technology through a document titled Principles for the Oversight of Synthetic Biology.

ETC Group says that, since 2007, governments and policy experts have authored more than 40 papers on the governance challenges and risks of synthetic biology and the number of expert commissions, international conferences and other processes examining the environmental, ethical, legal and social implications is on the rise.

Julian Savulescu, a leading UK-based bioethicist and philosopher, terms the technology more controversial than normal genetic engineering in that, unlike the latter — which involves moving genes across species – “synthetic biology provides the technology to create life that had not and could not have naturally existed.”

There are also fears that the rapid adoption of the technology will also lead to more assaults by biopirates on the biological resources belonging to Africa and other parts of the developing world, which have seen a significant amount of their biological and indigenous knowledge stolen and patented by companies in the industrialised world.

Digitally sequence

ETC Group says that it is now easy to digitally sequence the DNA of any plant in one location, upload that information to the Internet and then, in a matter of hours, synthesise that DNA in a laboratory on the other side of the globe.

“Like the piracy of music, videos and books, digital piracy of genetic resources is now both easy and common,” the group said.

But a different school of thought advances the argument that Africa, which seeks a moratorium on the application of the technology, may eventually lose the argument because it cannot force multinationals to buy its products at high prices while there are cheaper alternatives.

“No one is forcing them to buy products from Africa… they have been stealing our markets by pretending that the products are naturally produced whereas they are indeed factory-made,” said Ms Bassey-Orovwuje.