The government must be consistent in its policy on GMOs – Food Sovereignty Ghana

Company News from Monday 1st April 2019

Source: Food Sovereignty Ghana

2019-04-01

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.

According to them, they find it interesting that the minister adopts an 80 degree position on GMOs, but 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 strongly opposed to this project and, in fact, we do not need it", explaining that the country had enough improved seeds. "

"We think this is a sign that the government is feeling the pinch of the Ghanaian public." This comes at a time when the GM pressure group is stepping up its campaigning activities for GMOs involving local scientists, staff The Ghanaian public has clearly seen these efforts and asked the right questions, and Mr Afriyie can not escape the GMO debacle without clarifying the official position of his own ministry on this issue. "

Adding this, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Owusu Afriyie Akoto, was forced to insist again that his position be changed. Although the FSG welcomes the Minister's new appreciation of the reality of 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 know undermined by the lack of laws even requiring the labeling of so-called "approved" GMOs!

They said, "What worries us the most here is the fact that Mr. Afriyie's position appears to be an attempt to disguise the government's official policy, possibly in view of the 2020 elections. It is clear that the plans of the GMO are unpopular, the government has obviously been very timid in promoting its official policy on GMOs, the only rare occasion where we met a person in charge of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Agriculture has stated publicly that its position is "Q & A session on Genetically Modified Foods and their Consequences for Ghana", at the Foreign Ministry's Obed Asamoah conference room on Tuesday, January 16, 2018, Mr. Solomon Gyan-Ansah, deputy director of Crop Services, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, said the government stand for the introduction of GMOs into our al chain imentary! "

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 adopted biotechnology in 1986 and conducted extensive research on various biotechnology systems, which allowed for its 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 the import permit for the country. Roundup of Monsanto 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 Monsanto's secret internal documents proving that Monsanto had known for decades that … Roundup could cause cancer," said Johnson's lawyer, Brent Wisner, in a statement. 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!

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 "2009 Regulation on Environmental Management (Biosecurity) of Tanzania"?
"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 according to the guidelines; non-compliance with the regulations results in a sanction that is generally very burdensome. By contrast, voluntary regulations provide guidelines for the labeling of foods derived from GMOs, the labeling decision is made by the manufacturer or distributor of the food product. "Voluntary labeling is therefore out of the question and not in the food industry. 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.