Biosafety Agency Reopens Debate On GMOs

A recent decision of the federal government to ban four transgenic cotton hybrid varieties, as illegal and dangerous to health, has reopened debates on the issue of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the country.

Transgenic varieties have their genes taken from different species and transferred to others using the techniques of genetic modification.

National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), which disclosed this, however, reassured Nigerians that no GMO enters or is used in Nigeria without passing through the Agency’s strict, science-based approval process.

It added that any importer or producer found to contravene the NBMA Act 2015 (as amended) will face appropriate sanctions.

In our view, it is encouraging that the sanctions began with cotton, a non-edible product. But the greater concern is the application of this scientific method in the production of food crops such as maize and tomatoes, among others.

This worry stems from the fact that even NBMA is advocating the application of the GMO principle in food production to combat the perceived incidences of hunger and starvation in the country.

In its response to arguments against GMOs, it has always insisted that science, not sentiment, guides its decisions, which it claims align with global best practices, including standards of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the Codex Alimentarius Commission, and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

The danger, as this scientific method rolls into the Nigerian agricultural space, is that the organisations mentioned above are pressuring most developing countries to adopt it as part of measures to alleviate the assumed food crisis in the nations concerned.

In this process, there is an irresistible component, with funds dangled under the noses of poorer countries, who accept it despite the negative implications for people’s health and national pride.

As this debate goes on, public health and food safety experts have called for an immediate ban on GMOs and glyphosate, a herbicide that is taken up by plants and affects their growth. They warn that their continued use poses serious health, environmental, and national security risks.

They are joined by farmers and civil society organisations who also warned that the continued use of GMOs poses serious risks to human health, soil fertility and the nation’s food sovereignty.

Two non-governmental organisations, the Centre for Food Safety and Agricultural Research (CEFSAR) and the Centre for African Policy Research and Advisory (CAPRA) are persuaded that an immediate ban on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) food cultivation and importation into the country is in the best interest of the people.

We recall that the House of Representatives had, in May 2024, adopted a motion asking the government to put a stop to the introduction of GMO products into the country pending an investigation by its Committee on Agricultural Production and Services. While the House of Representatives is on it, there is an urgent need for it to enact legislation to address the dangers posed by GMOs to Nigerians’ health.

This need becomes imperative in the light of allegations that GMO chemicals banned in European countries have been produced and shipped to Africa, especially to Nigeria, for agricultural cultivation, and that these chemicals are gradually killing the country’s agricultural potential.

Experts further posit that there is overwhelming evidence that suggests a correlation between the rise in GMOs and glyphosate use with an increase in specific health problems since the 1990s in the United States of America, for instance. This correlation, they assert, encompasses conditions such as gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Beyond this, the introduction of GMOs could lead to the dominance of large biotechnology corporations displacing smallholder farmers and disrupting traditional farming practices.

As a newspaper, we are compelled to point out that many countries in Africa and elsewhere have implemented bans on GMOs due to health, environmental, and socio-economic concerns.

We note that South Africa’s recent Supreme Court decision to reverse approval of a GMO maize variety underscores the importance of rigorous risk assessment and due diligence in decision-making as it relates to what is without doubt, an international conspiracy to undermine the national integrity of nations just because they have a challenge. Advocates for a ban on GMOs insist that it is in the interest of national security and food safety until an independent national study is conducted to determine the level of GMO penetration in Nigeria.

Even more, it is argued that the importation and cultivation of GMOs, and the inability of a nation to control its own food sovereignty, render it vulnerable to external manipulation.

As noted above, developed nations are beginning to worry about the negative impact of GMOs among their people resulting in very serious health implications.

Should that situation arise in Nigeria with the inadequacies in her healthcare delivery system, then,the effect can only be imagined.