Cabinet approves GM foods Bill

A Biosafety Bill which will allow the full commercialization of biotechnology and the deployment of the Genetically Modified (GM) products in the country has been approved by Cabinet, B&FT has been told.

The Bill is expected to be presented to parliament by close of the year, which when passed will authorize the use and the consumption of GM foods in the country’s consuming market.

This will be the second GM foods- related bill that Parliament will pass after it had earlier passed the Legislative Instrument on Biosafety (LI 1887) which along with other existing legislation could be used to start field trials of GM crops in the country’s agricultural sector.

Dr. Alhassan Yakubu, Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology, who disclosed to B&FT, explained that the passage will have enormous implications for the country’s future biotech crop production in the agricultural sector.

This is expected to increase productivity and augment income of farmers, while promoting the protection of biodiversity, environment and climate change and other socio-economic benefits.

Ghana in May 2003, signed the Cartagena Protocol, which affirmed the country’s position on the safe use, handling and transportation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMs) that might find their way to into the country.

The Cartegena Protocol states: “Parties shall ensure that the development, handling, transport, use, transfer and release of any living modified organisms are undertaken in a manner that prevents or reduces the risks to biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health.”

Dr. Yakubu, making a presentation at a media conference in Accra on the topic “Global Status of Commercialized Biotech and GM crops”, explained that Ghana and its neighboring countries continued to exchange planting materials.

“It was, therefore, prudent for the country to put in place all the necessary precautions and mechanisms to formally standardize the usage of GM crops, hence, the framework and the pending bill.”

He emphasized that the proven and potential benefits of modern biotechnology are accepted as means of increasing food production efficiency, of ensuring sustainable agriculture and of developing new products from, and uses for, different plant varieties.

Burkina Faso has legislation to commercialize GM crops, especially, cotton thereby increasing its export. Togo-passed a bio-safety law in 2008, with Mali also passing one in the same year.

Prof. Walter Sandow Alhassan, Coordinator, African Biosafety & Technology Policy Platform, and also a consultant to the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), said: “there is no scientific evidence after 13 years of commercial GM crop production globally, that GM crops pose specific risks to the environment and human health.

He explained that the strict regulatory regime accompanying GM crop production makes these even safer than conventional crops.

GM crop production is reported to have reduced the need for external inputs, thus saving save 356,000mt of pesticides from 1996 to 2008. Its contribution to climatic change is estimated as equivalent to removing seven million cars off the road.

“Future prospects of a new wave of biotechnology crops between 2010 and 2015 are encouraging, therefore top priority must be assigned to operation of appropriate responsible, and cost-effective and timely regulatory systems.

“There is growing political will, as well as financial and scientific support for the development, approval and adoption of biotechnology crops, by countries, and a growing number of farmers, and it is expected that hectares under cultivation would all double by the second decade of commercialization in 2015.”

Friends of the Earth - Ghana (FoE), a non-governmental organization, oppose the introduction of GM foods into the country, observing that GM foods are harmful and unsafe for human consumption and that its impact on the human health is hazardous.

“Ghanaians should take a precautionary approach to the adoption of GM food.”

GM foods watchers say that supporters of GM foods, including heavy weight organizations like, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Monsanto, Inc, and USAID will continue to push for the adoption of GM foods in Ghana and other developing countries.