HEALTH EXPERTS, FARMERS, NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT MUST BAN GMOs
Health experts, food safety experts, scientists and farmers are urging, the federal government to impose a total ban on the genetically modified organisms (GMO) in Nigeria, emphasizing the adverse effects on the human health and also long-term impact on the nation’s food security and autonomy.
The union of experts, including the health of Mother Earth Foundation, (HOMEF), also charged the Nigerian government to restore extension services, integrate and promote agro-ecology principles and practices, develop seed banks and restrict GMO use until a proper assessment of their safety is guaranteed.
The latest call was declared at a press briefing in Abuja by HOMEF and its partners, this is coming after a recent presentation at a public hearing organized by members of the House of Representatives Committee on Agricultural Production and the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security.
The Director of Programmes at HOMEF, Joyce Brown countered proponents of GMOs on their safety, stating that any genetically modified food were not safe as they involve the transfer of genes, often between unrelated species that could mutate into destructive organisms.
One of the rice farmers, asked the government to be cautious of the effects of GMOs on the land, warning that adopting it means land degradation and plunging poverty on the farmers. She further reinstated that “GMOs damage soils, affect and kill healthy local species, are too expensive for farmers to afford and require too much chemical for production”. She advocated for the government to provide security for farmers, deploy extension workers to guide them and reserve large expanses of land for farming and rotation.
The Union in its call also tasked the government to ensure that the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council, (FCCPC), did more to protect Nigerians from consuming unlabeled GMO products.
