A Stakeholders Conference on ‘The State of Biosafety in Nigeria’ was recently organised by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in Abuja. A report at the conference revealed the presence of over 30 different products, mostly from the United States and UK containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients or produce with genetic engineering between 2018 and 2020.
The Executive Director of HOMEF, Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, pointed out at the conference that the modern agricultural biotechnologies are the basic varieties involving the transfer of genetic materials from one specie to another to accord certain traits such as to be herbicide tolerant or being pesticide. He said it is mind-boggling for the country to expand the scope of her biosafety regulation to cover gene editing and synthetic biology when the handling of the elementary versions has generated serious doubts and worries, adding that the so-called guidelines for gene-editing and extreme GMOs are dangerous and needless. He noted that the purpose of introducing the so-called definitions into Nigeria’s Biosafety Act was to create a crack in the door so as to open the country to vested interest promoting the easy to weaponries and extinction driving gene editing technology.
Bassey affirmed that the flagship biotech laboratory in the country is in a temporary cabin, and that the country does not need to add risky technologies that clearly pose a security threat to the people and environment.
He stressed that ‘It is time for Nigeria to recognize the facts of our best interests and support agroecology, smallholder farmers and provide their basic needs including infrastructure, storage/processing facilities and extension services’.Indeed the application of GM crops poses serious threat for food systems, human and environmental health because Genetically Modified Organism (GMOs) are accompanied by high concentration of chemicals which are highly toxic and extremely harmful for human health. They present several risks to be environment including increased use and accumulation of toxic chemicals coil degradation and destruction of biodiversity. They also have potential to contaminate natural varieties and remain in nature for many years.
According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, glyphosate, a major component of Roundup Ready herbicide which accompany a majority of GM products and produced by this biotechnology company, Monsanto (now Bayer), has been said to be a possible cancer causing agent.
Many countries have reportedly taken a stand against genetically modified products because they have found that these products do not give the benefits or correspond to characteristics that they have been acclaimed to possess. The South African government in October 2018 declined authorization of genetically modified maize for commercial production as field trail proved that the data provided by the producer, Mansanto-Bayer, were insufficient to demonstrate the claimed drought tolerance and insect resistance efficacy.
In November 2018, the Ministry of Agricultural Research Institute of the country to stop going trials and destroy remnants of GM products with immediate effect. In Kenya, stakeholders in the agricultural sector have urged their government to review policies made with regards to genetically modified foods as they have proved to be counterproductive in the long run.
On glyphosate use, the German Ministry of Environment in November 2018 said that they would use all legal options to end use of glyphosate based weed-killers, pointing out the Germany wanted to change the approval process for all pesticides.
Leading the anti-GMO group, Bassey says, “Nigeria is not ready for GMOs, it does not need to be ready for GMOs because we don not need them.The fact is that the matter of food availability is not addressed by GMOs.
“It has been said that GMOs have higher yield simply because they are made in the laboratory. This is not borne out by facts. It has been shown that genetically modified maize in the U.S does not yield higher than it conventional counterpart in Europe, for instance. There are several factors that affect crop yield and food availability. GMOs are not the answer”.
The other argument is that GMOs reduce the quantity of chemicals used on farms. Most GMOs, like the maize varieties being brought into Nigeria are engineered to receive doses of herbicide”.
“They are especially designed to withstand certain chemicals while other crops or plant would die off. It’s simply that it makes production a bit faster and easier and sometimes they spray the farm towards the harvest period to cause the crops to dry faster, making it easier for harvesting with machines”.
“These chemicals are all over Nigerian markets. Tell me, where will poor Nigerians farmers get justice when the calamity begins to” he asked.
Bello writes from Damaturu, Yobe state
