From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The House of Representatives has been commended for weighing into the raging controversy of the Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) crops.
The commendation was given by the Director of Programmes, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Joyce Brown, at a press briefing yesterday in Abuja.
Brown explained that promoters of GMO are deliberately designed to serve specific purposes often with the transfer of genetic material in-between totally unrelated species.
Brown said: “HOMEF’s campaign against GMOs is particularly against genetic modification of food crops and animals and any other genetic modification that will alter ecosystem balance, affect the rights of farmers to seeds, wield control of our seeds/food to corporate interests and negatively impact our agriculture system and local economy.
“So far, according to information available (as at June 2024) on the website of the Biosafety Clearing House of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Nigeria has approved 25 GM products – 11 for field trials; 4 for commercial release; and 10 for food, feed and/or processing.
“The four varieties approved for commercial release and market placement are 2 varieties of cowpea, cotton, and maize. It was reported in September 2024 that Nigeria is warming up to approve GM Potatoes for commercial release in 2025.”
Also, Executive Director, Centre for Food Safety and Agricultural Research (CEFSAR), Prof. Qrisstuberg Amua, said Nigeria should be mindful of foreign grants to promote GMOs, as it poses a tangible risk to food safety, human health and ecological conservation.
According to him, research must be carried out as it would serve as a vehicle for enlightenment rather than exploitation of Nigeria’s inherent capacity vulnerabilities.
Amua said: “Similarly, the inappropriate adoption of GMOs which are tantamount to gain-of-function research, from externally promoted research that is funded by foreign commercial interests poses a tangible risk to food safety, human health and ecological conservation.
“These realities demand that Nigeria establishes a dynamic regulatory framework that promotes in-country research and innovation while genuinely safeguarding biosafety; and not the current regime of captured and compromised national regulators turned GMO and hazardous pesticide promoters, merchandising foreign business interests.
“Research must serve as a vehicle for enlightenment rather than exploitation of Nigeria’s inherent capacity vulnerabilities.”