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Ghanaian MPs are ignorant about GMOs - FSG
The grassroots food advocacy group had recently petitioned Parliament’s Appointment Committee to disqualify the Agric Minister-designate, Mr Afriyie-Akoto over his supposed support for the introduction of genetically modified (GMO) foods into the country.
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But appearing before the Appointments Committee of parliament on Tuesday, Mr Afriyie Akoto said his stance has only been for the use of improved seeds developed by Ghanaian scientists to enhance crop production and earn farmers more income.
Speaking to Pulse.com.gh on the nominee’s stance, the Communications Director of FSG Edwin Kweku Andoh Baffour said: “it is surprising that the honourable minister said he is not opposed to GMOs when everything he is saying is to the contrary.”
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“The fact of the matter is even at the parliamentary level, there is a certain misunderstanding about the whole issue of GMOs. You can see that it is not all the legislators who have fully understood what they are dealing with. And unfortunately, the chairman of the Appointments Committee Honourable Joe Owusu was mixing up the issue of hybrid with GMOs.
"FSG is not against science; we are not against hybrid. Hybrid can be created through natural means; through traditional selective processing, but we are against the genetic manipulation of organisms, where you transfer the genes from one organism to another. And so the chairman of the committee himself did not fully understand what he was talking about.”
He argued that the fact that there is no consensus in the scientific community on the safety of GMOs means Ghana must be careful of how it proceeds and “at least in the minimum go by international laws which state Ghanaians should be educated about it [GMOs] and engaged about it.”
The Food Sovereignty Ghana has always raised serious concerns over the use of genetically modified seeds which it says have long-term effects on the health of consumers and quality of the soil.
The group believes it is high time the president, Nana Addo intervened in the subject matter, as neighbouring countries like Burkina Faso are already moving away from genetically modified seeds.
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"We are calling on His Excellency to be visionary and to provide leadership at a time when we are at a crossroads. Ghana is either going to become an organic haven where we can export food which is in demand to the whole world or we can go down this road of genetically modified agriculture, the same way Argentina went, the same way India went with its cotton...we all know the resulting story. Currently in Argentina they have the highest cancer rate; anywhere where GMOs was planted and pesticides applied and so it's the same way in the US,” Mr Andoh Baffour added.
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