Wednesday, May 19, 2010

G.M foods: great promise, great dangers

Ghana has defied all odds to join other countries to adopt GM foods despite home pressure to shun such an idea. Ekow Essabra-Mensah looks at the implications.

The terms genetically-modified (GM) or genetically-engineered (GE) foods and genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques.

GM foods are derived from genetically modified organisms. Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering techniques. These techniques are much more precise than mutation breeding, whereby an organism is exposed to radiation or chemicals to create a non-specific but stable change.

GM foods were first put on the market in the early 1990s. Typically, genetically modified foods may include soybean, corn, canola, and cotton-seed oil. But animal products have also been developed.

In 2006 a pig was controversially engineered to produce omega-3 fatty acids through the expression of a roundworm gene.

Researchers have also developed a genetically-modified breed of pigs that are able to absorb plant phosphorus more efficiently, and as a consequence the phosphorus content of their manure is reduced by as much as 60 percent.

Critics have objected to GM foods on several grounds including perceived safety issues, ecological concerns, and economic concerns raised by the fact that these organisms are subject to intellectual property law.

The great promise

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

It is expected that hectares under cultivation will double by the second decade of commercialisation in 2015.

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, cost-effective and timely regulatory systems.

GM foods have great promise and great dangers, said the African American Environmentalist Association (AAEA), indicating that if all goes well one thing is certain - we will have to feed about 12 billion people every day by the end of the next 50 years.

Ghana’s position on G.M Foods

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 (GMOs) which 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.”

Ghana’s Cabinet has approved the Bio-safety Bill which will allow the full commercialisation of biotechnology and the deployment of the Genetically Modified (GM) products in the country.

The draft bill, which should be in the parliamentary calendar for debate later this month, when passed will authorise the use and consumption of GM foods in the country’s consuming market, said Dr. Alhassan Yakubu, Member of the Parliamentary, Select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology; explaining that the passage will have enormous implications for the country’s future biotech crop production in the agricultural sector.

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

Promulgation of the bill into law will enable the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service and the Immigration Service to monitor, regulate and control genetically modified food products imported into the country.

The Bill on Bio-safety, will as well promote the exchange of biotechnology data between Ghana and her neighbours, said Ms Sherry Ayittey, Minister for Environment, Science and Technology.

"Ghana is not opposed to genetically modified food products."

The problem with genetically modified products in Ghana, she said, was that it has not been properly understood; that is why the mention of the technology creates panic among people.

She therefore urged scientists in the country to break the myth about GM through public education.

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.

Prof. Walter Sandow Alhassan, Coordinator, African Bio-safety & 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 them even safer than conventional crops.

Trade in Europe and Africa

In response to negative public opinion, Monsanto announced its decision to remove their seed cereal business from Europe; and environmentalists crashed a World Trade Organisation conference in Cancun that promoted GM foods and was sponsored by the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT). Some African nations have refused emergency food aid from developed countries, fearing that the food is unsafe.

During a conference in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, Kingsley Amoako, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), encouraged African nations to accept genetically modified food and expressed dissatisfaction at the public’s negative opinion of biotechnology.

Advice from developed economies

In New Zealand, no genetically modified food is grown and no medicines containing live genetically-modified organisms have been approved for use. However, medicines manufactured using genetically modified organisms that do not contain live organisms have been approved for sale, and imported foods with genetically modified components are sold.

United States

In 2004, Mendocino County, California, became the first state in the United States to ban the production of GMOs. The measure passed with a 57% majority.

In California, Trinity and Marin counties have also imposed bans on GM crops, while ordinances to do so were unsuccessful in Butte, Lake, San Luis Obispo, Humboldt, and Sonoma counties. Supervisors in the agriculturally-rich counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Solano, Sutter, and Tulare have passed resolutions supporting the practice.

France

The cultivation of Monsanto's MON 810 corn was forbidden in France on February 9, of 2008. It was the only GMO authorized in France. The safeguard measure is taken as far as side effects on human health will be known. Germany placed a ban on the cultivation and sale of GMO maize in April 2009.

Other European Countries

MON 810 is the only GMO crop cultivated in European soil. However, in addition to France and Germany, other European countries that have placed bans on the cultivation and sale of GMOs include Austria, Hungary, Greece, and Luxemburg. Ireland has also banned GMO cultivation, and has instituted a voluntary label for GMO-free food products.

Poland has also has tried to institute a ban, with a backlash from the European Commission. Bulgaria effectively banned cultivation of genetically modified organisms on March 18, 2010.

Private investments

The development and implementation of policies designed to encourage private investments in research and marketing biotechnology that will meet the needs of poverty-stricken nations, increased research on other problems faced by poor nations, and joint efforts by the public and private sectors to ensure the efficient use of technology developed by industrialised nations have been suggested.

In addition, industrialised nations have not tested GM technology on tropical plants, focusing on those that grow in temperate climates even though undeveloped nations and the people that need the extra food live primarily in tropical climates.

Many European scientists are disturbed by the fact that political factors and ideology prevent unbiased assessment of the GM technology in some EU countries, with a negative effect on the whole community.

Great dangers

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

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

GM food watchers say that supporters of GM foods, including heavyweight organisations 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.

In the 1990's, scientists from the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) warned about the health problems associated with GMO foods.

However, high-ranking officials in the FDA quashed these reports. According to documents released from a lawsuit, the scientific consensus from the agency was that GM foods were inherently dangerous and might create hard-to-detect allergies, poisons, gene transfer to gut bacteria, new diseases and nutritional problems. (See http://www.biointegrity.org/list.html).

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