Tag Archives: biotechnology

Scientists have been asked to simplify information about their work and technologies for the public to understand.  One of the technologies that researchers are still failing to communicate to the public effectively is modern biotechnology. Modern biotechnology is a term adopted by international convention to mean techniques for the manipulation of genetic material beyond natural breeding barriers. And for this ...

The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), alongside the Voice of Nigeria (VON), has inaugurated a 10-man joint committee as part of efforts to ensure effective publicity of the activities of the NBMA. The two parties also drafted a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will help to increase awareness on the regulation of modern biotechnology and its products in the country ...

Catholic Medical Practitioners have called on the federal government to legislate, regulate and monitor the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Nigeria. While demanding that attention be payed to the labelling of GMO products, they demanded adequate funding for research and development by the GMO regulatory agencies for the nation to derive benefits from the technology. “But more importantly, ...

The Director General/CEO, National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr. Rufus Ebegba, on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 in Abuja re-emphasised the need to regulate the practice of modern biotechnology in the country. Dr. Ebegba made the submission while receiving members of the Real-Life Civil Society, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), at the NBMA Office. According to him, government in its wisdom established ...

A newly released peer-reviewed paper appears to have drawn attention to environmental challenges associated with genetically-modified (GM) crops, as well as the gaps in scientific knowledge of their effects. GM crops are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. In most cases, the aim is to introduce a new trait to the ...

Ayuba David, a public servant based in Abuja, in this piece, makes a case for the prevalence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Nigeria, in the light of dissenting voices over government’s efforts at regulating the technology. According to him, other countries across the globe are already using the technology to their own benefit and that Nigeria cannot be an exception ...

The need for public consultation and participation in the approval processes of applications that directly affect the people’s health and wellbeing cannot be overstressed. Many issues surround the matter of our food and agricultural modern biotechnology that require clarifications and in-depth interrogations. It is to this end that the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) on April 25, 2017 had ...

In his welcome remarks at the Lawyers Roundtable on Biosafety held at the Apo Apartments, Abuja on Tuesday, April 25 2017, Nnimmo Bassey, Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), says that, in the light of the seeming defective NBMA Act, government cannot afford to gamble with the citizen’s biosafety and biosecurity Dead people cannot speak against judicial or ...

In his welcome remarks at a Media Training on Biosafety held in Abuja on Monday, April 24 2017, Nnimmo Bassey, Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), insists that food sovereignty is the right of peoples to safe and culturally appropriate food produced through methods that are ecologically sound and sustainable Should science not be in the public interest and in ...

In this article, the context of the Government of Nigeria (GON) and its agencies killing a truth-seeking environmentalist is (a) physical as in murder, execution, assassination or driving one to suicide. Or (b) psychological as in breaking one’s spirit, discrediting one’s name, ruining one’s career; being a victim of government-sponsored attack dogs. Ken Saro-Wiwa a major Nigerian environmentalist suffered such ...