Tag Archives: Genetically modified food

The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has approached various security agencies including the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) as well as the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) as part of operational arrangements to enforce its mandate. It will be recalled that the NBMA shortly after its establishment gave a deadline of six months which expired last December to all ...

The war against genetically modified organisms is full of fearmongering, errors, and fraud, writes William Saletan in a recent edition of Slate (www.slate.com). Saletan, a politics, science and technology writer, insists that labelling them will not make mankind safer They Want You to Be Overwhelmed Is genetically engineered food dangerous? Many people seem to think it is. In the past ...

Every January and for almost two decades GM crop proponents celebrate the arrival of report of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech (ISAAA) on commercialised GM crops. The truth is that nothing has changed since they started issuing these reports.  They have been making the same claims since 1996: more GM crops, more countries, and more hectares cultivated. Interestingly this ...

US corn prices plummeted as China rejected all shipments containing traces of Syngenta’s MIR162. Farmers from five major corn growing states have filed three class action lawsuits against Syngenta, claiming damages of more than $1 billion. Syngenta released MIR162, trade name Agrisure Vipera, in 2009. It is engineered to make a Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) protein vip3Aa20 toxic to lepidopteran insect ...

As the debate on genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) hots up in the country, EnviroNews Nigeria presents views of the pro- and anti-GMO crusaders, who of recent in various forums sought to enlighten the public on issues therein. While a government agency official on one hand makes a case for the concept to receive legal backing, a civil society activist, on the ...

In a recent edition of “Fact Sheet,” a publication of the ecological think-tank, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), writers Juan Lopez, Mariann Orovwuje and Nnimmo Bassey insist that Nigeria does not need genetically modified crops to satisfy its food and agricultural needs. They claim that the National Biosafety Bill is deficient and that President Goodluck Jonathan should not assent ...

Nature has the right responses to changing climate and holds the ace to the survival of species on the planet. Humans simply have to be humble enough to accept that we do not understand everything about the intricacies of natural processes. The time has indeed come when the world has to accept that working with nature is immeasurably more beneficial ...

Vitamin A is known to be essential for good vision, proper development of embryos, healthy skin and mucous membranes. It helps cells reproduce normally, plays a role in immune system function, growth, bone formation, reproduction and wound healing. It then follows that Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD), considered a public health problem especially in Africa and South-East Asia, will lead to ...

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), who recently took a look at the current National Biosafety Agency (Establishment) Bill of 2010, have warned that the Nigerian government did not take into account the concerns of local farmers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and critical stakeholders in its formulation. The bill is presently awaiting the President’s consent. At a forum held recently in Benin City, ...

Contrary to statements credited to the Nigeria Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), activist Nnimmo Bassey insists that genetically modified crops pose a threat to the nation’s food security   Food production and hunger continue to be issues of major concern in Nigeria and in Africa as a whole. The continent has been the poster child of hunger and malnutrition since the ...