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Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG) urgently calls on the government to adopt a coherent policy on the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into our food chain and to refrain from any misleading aggression in the media designed to project dust into the eyes of the public.
We find it interesting that the minister is taking a 80-degree position on GMOs, but we would like the government to speak with one voice in the same way that the minister recently did: describing GMOs as a "controversial topic," he told WFP country leaders "a part of Ghanaian society was against it and we actually do not need it", explaining that the country had enough improved seeds. "
We think this is a sign that the government is feeling the backlash from the Ghanaian public. This is happening at a time when the GM lobby is stepping up its campaigning activities for GMOs involving local scientists, media personnel and farmers. The Ghanaian public has clearly seen through such efforts and is asking the right questions. Dr. Afriyie can not escape the GMO debacle without clarifying the official position of his own ministry in this area.
We therefore note that after vigorously defending GMOs until obtaining the acronym "Minister of GMOs", the Minister of Food and Agriculture Mr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, was forced to insist again for a change of position. If the FSG welcomes the Minister's new appreciation of reality as a progressive development, it must be clear to all that this is not enough.
The reactions of our members, as well as our colleagues in civil society and the agroecology advocacy movements, see an overwhelming majority, a step in the right direction from a key decision maker. However, most of them quickly add that there is still no clarity as to the position of the Government of Ghana on the introduction of GMOs into our food chain, despite the fact that scientific uncertainties persist and that consumers to know that they are undermined by the lack of laws that even require the labeling of so-called "approved" GMOs!
What worries us the most here is the fact that Mr. Afriyie's position seems to be an attempt to disguise the government's official policy, possibly in view of the 2020 elections. Clearly aware of the unpopularity of the GMO lobby projects, the government has obviously been very shy in promoting its official GMO policy. The only rare opportunity we met with an official from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, stating publicly that the government would take a stand, was during a "question-and-answer session on Genetically Modified Foods and Its Consequences for Ghana ", at the Foreign Ministry's Obed Asamoah Conference Hall on Tuesday, January 16, 2018, Mr. Solomon Gyan-Ansah, Deputy Director of Crop Services at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, said the government's position was to introduce GMOs into our food chain.
As a result, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, urged the National Biosafety Authority (ANB) board to raise awareness the public on biotech and biosecurity issues. He added that it would help the public understand and embrace biotechnology as a better alternative to socio-economic progress.
"Biotechnology is so important and we can not grow without it," adding that countries like China had adopted biotechnology in 1986 and had conducted extensive research on various biotechnology systems, which had allowed for rapid development. on a global scale.
The government can not talk about GMOs on both sides of the mouth, where one side says "yes" and the other side says "no". We find it dishonest to procrastinate on an issue as serious as this one, for electoral reasons. GMOs are designed to tolerate high doses of dangerous chemicals such as glyphosate, which is now a known carcinogen.
We live in a world of dangerous chemicals and fraudulent companies. The government must therefore be as proactive as Malawi's Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, which has announced its intention to suspend Monsanto's Roundup import permit in the country. Should not our own government do it for the safety of Ghanaians? A third trial of Monsanto Roundup is underway. The first two were all opposed to Monsanto, their Roundup being cited as the agent responsible for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. We must be grateful for the legal precedents created by the recent findings of the Court in San Francisco and the payment of damages and compensation to Dewayne, a former 46-year-old ground guard, and to Edwin Hardeman, 70, who used Roundup to control weeds and poisoned oak on his property for 26 years.
"We were finally able to show the jury the secret internal documents of Monsanto, which proved that Monsanto knew for decades that Roundup could cause cancer," Johnson's lawyer Brent Wisner said in a statement. The verdict, he added, sent "a message to Monsanto to tell him that his years of deception about Roundup are over and that he should put consumer safety ahead of profits." The game is almost over. Monsanto is facing more than 4,000 similar cases across the United States. We call on the government to give priority to Ghana and to protect the health and the environment of Ghanaians.
We reiterate our call to the government for an indefinite moratorium on the introduction of genetically modified food and feed into our food chain. At the same time, we call at a minimum the labeling of all foods containing GMOs in order to give consumers the right to know the content of the products they buy with their often scarce resources! https://t.co/M9drgNv9r6
We also call for strict liability for possible damage that the consumption and cultivation of GMOs can have on Ghanaians and on the environment. We believe that the wording of Article 6 of the "Tanzania Environmental Management (Biosafety) Regulations 2009":
"All approvals for the introduction of GMOs or their products are subject to the condition that the applicant is strictly liable for damages caused to any person or entity."
According to the FDA, "mandatory labeling regulations require that food products derived wholly or partially from GMOs be labeled in accordance with the guidelines; Failure to comply with the regulations usually results in a very heavy penalty. On the other hand, voluntary regulations provide guidelines for the labeling of foods derived from GMOs. However, the labeling decision is made by the manufacturer or distributor of the food product. "Voluntary labeling is therefore out of the question and is not in the interest of public security in Ghana.
These are issues that require urgent attention from the government as Ghanaians take their food personally and very seriously.
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For life, the environment and social justice!
Edwin Kweku Andoh Baffour
Communications Branch, FSG
Warning: "The views / contents expressed in this article only imply that the responsibility of the authors) and do not necessarily reflect those of modern Ghana. Modern Ghana can not be held responsible for inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this article. "
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