Food: 92 CSOs tasks Reps on Prohibition of GMO Products
By Oluwakemi Kindness
The House of Representatives has been tasked on the need to urgently prohibit the use and consumption of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in Nigeria in the bid to protect the environment and the health of the citizen.
A Coalition of over 90 African Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) made the call on Tuesday in Abuja during a public hearing on GMO by the Joint House Committees on Agricultural Production and Services, Privatisation, Commercialisation, Public Asset, Science Engineering and Special Duties.
The coalition led by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) decried the rising cases of cancer and other related illnesses traceable to the use and consumption of GMO.
According to document presented to the committee by the Director of Programmes (HOMEF) Joyce Brown, the coalition explained that GMOs are products of genetic engineering which is a technology that allows scientists to create plants, animals and micro-organisms by manipulating genes at the cellular level in a way that is not possible via traditional or natural processes.
According to them, it allows DNA from one type of organism to be introduced into another related or unrelated species; while genetic manipulation is also done within a single organism.
They said that campaign against GMOs is particularly against genetic modification of food crops and animals and any other genetic modification that will alter ecosystem balance, negatively impact agriculture, destroy local economy and foods.
The coalition explained that GMOs have direct implications on biodiversity saying that over 80 per cent of GMOs are designed to be herbicide tolerant.
“GMOs do not improve yields. On the 23rd of September, 2024 the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN) reported that they “did not record any significant increase in their yields compared to the local seed varieties but instead, since the introduction of GM cotton seeds during the 2020/2021 farming season, yield per hectare has remained almost the same.
“The worrying aspect is where the cotton farmers reported that no other plant has been able to germinate on the farmlands where the GM seeds were planted, even after four years they said.
Some members of the coalition include Free Nigeria Alliance, Center for Food Safety and Agricultural Research (CEFSAR) Corporate Accountability and Public Participation for Africa (CAPPA) Women Environmental Programme and Food and Health Limited.
Others are Nigerians Against GMOs, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) Nigeria Women Farmers Association (NIWAAFA), We the People, and Association of Women Farmers of Nigeria, amongst others.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Chairman, House Committee on Agricultural Production and Services, Bello A. Ka’oje, said the issue of Genetically Modified Organisms/Crops (GMO’s) in agriculture is an ongoing global debate with two broad opinions.
According to him, the task of the Committee is to engage with key stakeholders engaged in the debates on the appropriateness or otherwise of GMO’s to our Agriculture.
