The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), NGO, has called on the Federal Government (FG) to show Nigerians factual evidence that supports the open cultivation and commercial release of TELA maize.
The Executive Director of HOMEF, Mr Nnimmo Bassey made this submission in an interview on Tuesday in Abuja.
The TELA Maize Project is a public-private partnership aimed at initiating the commercialization of transgenic drought-tolerant and insect-protected maize varieties to enhance food security in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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He urged the Federal Government to sensitize the public on TELA maize through the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB) and the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA).
The executive director asked the Federal Government to prove the claim that transgenic crop variety had reduced environmental impact and improved nutrition content.
Bassey expressed disappointment over the release of the genetically modified varieties and charged the government to understand the difficulties of recalling genetically modified living organisms and to quickly withdraw the TELA Maize.
“This is coming at a time when Mexico, the center of origin of maize has halted the cultivation of genetically engineered corn to preserve local and more nutritious varieties despite heavy pressures from vested interests.’’
Bassey said that there was no evidence of a risk assessment conducted before the release of the TELA Maize on either the website of NBMA–the agency saddled with the responsibility of regulating the uses of GMOs.
He said that there was also none of such update on the website of the Biosafety Clearing House of the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity where parties were expected to upload updates on their decisions/use of GMOs/Living Modified Organisms.
According to him, it is unacceptable that in the name of food sufficiency, the country is exposing its citizens to products of risky technologies without adequate, independent, and/or long-term assessment of their impacts on human and environmental health.
“There are many challenges associated with genetic modification crops that we cannot deny.
So far, GMOs have been linked to cancers, diseases, allergies, and all sorts of health challenges due to environmental implications because of their dependency on toxic pesticides and the destruction of biodiversity and nutritional diversity.
“We are also concerned that there is no way to label or inform our farmers that they are planting GMO maize.
“To deny Nigerians the right of choice is highly objectionable and it is expedient that the government conduct independent long-term feeding tests and environmental/biodiversity assessments before any GM crop is approved for use and not merely testing to confirm productivity or performance,” he said.
Similarly, Joyce Brown, HOMEF’s Director of Programmes and Project Lead for Hunger Politics, said Nigeria did not need GMOs to feed its population.
According to him, what is of utmost importance is enhancing the health of the soil.
“Our farmers have selected and preserved seeds, crops, and animal varieties over the centuries; they have kept a stock of varieties that both provide food and meet our medicinal and other needs.
“They kept the norms that preserved biodiversity; introducing the open cultivation and commercial release of the TELA maize is an outright danger to the lives and livelihood of our farmers.”
Brown said that out of the 23 new crop varieties released, 12 varieties of the TELA Maize were genetically modified.
The TELA Maize was released along with 22 other new varieties aimed at achieving food sufficiency in Nigeria.
The Federal Government, on January 11, openly approved the open cultivation and commercial release of the TELA maize which was said to be a transgenic insect-resistant and drought-tolerant variety along with other high-yielding crop varieties.
The crop varieties were released at NACGRAB in Ibadan, Oyo State, during the 33rd meeting of the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Varieties, Livestock Breeds/Fisheries.
