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The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and other civil society groups (CSOs) have demanded a ban on genetically modified organisms (GMO) foods in the country and repeal of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) Act.
The groups, which comprised farmers, youths, women, scientists, medical practitioners, lawyers, scholars and students, marched to the office of Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu in Alausa to protest against unrestrained release of GMOs and the Act enabling their cultivation and consumption in Nigeria.
Other groups that signed the petition are the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Joint Action Front (JAF), Earthcare Foundation, Child Health Organisation and Centre for Children Health, Education Orientation and Protection (CEE-Hope), among others.
Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, who led the rally, said, “While we appreciate Federal Government and states efforts to promote agricultural development in the country, we are concerned about aspects that would scuttle these efforts and push Nigerians into acute food insecurity in the long term.
“We are submitting this petition through you because Lagos, by virtue of its enviable position among states of the federation and its population, is most at risk to receive GMOs.
“We demand a ban on GMOs and a repeal of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) Act, which came into force in 2015 and was reviewed in 2019 to include emerging and even more contentious aspects of extremely risky modern biotechnology.”
He explained that GMOs were products of genetic engineering, which is a technology that allows scientists to create plants, animals and microorganisms by manipulating genes at the cellular level in a way not possible through traditional or natural processes.
“It allows DNA from one type of organism to be introduced into another related or unrelated species. Genetic manipulation is also done within a single organism.
“Nigerians are consuming foods bought from the market shelves without any idea that they are made from the genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The manner in which these items are imported into the country calls for serious concern.
“Another source of worry is the fact that the agency set up to regulate biosafety issues in the country is essentially a permitting agency, passing virtually every application that comes its way,” Bassey stressed.
Continuing, he said, “Our campaign against GMOs is particularly against genetic modification of food crops and animals and any other genetic modification that will alter ecosystem balance, negatively impact our agriculture or destroy local economies and foods.
“Majority of Nigerians are not aware of these GMOs in our food system and the toxic chemicals that some of them are engineered to withstand while killing everything else. Many are not aware of their implications on human and environmental health and on the livelihood of small-scale farmers.”
Further speaking in company of Deputy Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Akinbode Oluwafemi, Achike Chude of Justice Development and Peace Commission and Abiodun Aremu of Joint Action Front, among others, he sought a nullification of the permits issued to for the importation and release of genetically modified maize, beans and cotton into the country.
They also demanded close surveillance of markets and farms to halt illegal entry of GMOs into Nigeria, food supply and ban of all toxic agro-chemicals, especially glyphosate containing those identified as probable carcinogens.
“We demand a halt to the assault on our agriculture through genetic modification of our staple crops including cassava. We urge that Nigeria should be circumspect about technologies that aim to contaminate the environment, destroy agriculture, culture and rupture the socio-economic fabric and assert unbridled control over our agriculture and foods,” they added.
