Tag Archives: GMO

A recent briefing paper has emphasised reasons why attempts to corrupt and capture African food systems with the latest GM technologies and their products should be passionately rejected, resisted and opposed. Gene editing in human Titled “Genome editing – The next GM techno fix doomed to fail: Regulatory issues and threats for Africa”, the paper underlined the need for such ...

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Ghana has suspended trials of GMO cotton in the country after US Company Monsanto withdrew funding. Monsanto, the world’s leading Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) seeds producer, is facing challenges in Burkina Faso after that country rejected GMO cotton and began a phased withdrawal of the novel products. Farmers have now returned ...

The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) has lodged an appeal to the High Court of South Africa to overturn decisions of the GMO authority, the GMO Appeal Board and the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, to commercialise Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) drought tolerant (DT) maize seed. More than 25 000 concerned citizens have signed petitions and submitted objections in ...

Burkina Faso’s cotton companies and growers seem to have settled their long dispute with Monsanto Seed Company over their revenue losses allegedly caused by the introduction of genetically modified (GM) cotton. Among the world’s poorest countries, Burkina Faso, which began the nationwide introduction of cotton containing Monsanto’s Bollgard II trait in 2008 to fight against pests, is Africa’s top cotton ...

Lagos-based research scientist, Dr. Hannah Nnadi, has expressed concern that some activists may “have taken it upon themselves to smear the integrity of government agencies and individuals working for the good of the country”. She believes that “the attitude of these so-called activists to frustrate government agencies must be resisted as their actions are very unpatriotic and misleading.” In this ...

Last week, the print and electronic media in Nigeria were awash again with a major propaganda news item on Genetically Modified Foods. This time, what looks like a false alarm was raised by unidentified sources that Dangote Plc and the Nigerian government have flooded Nigerian market with GMO rice. The news item was followed with a warning that “eating GMO ...

In a reaction to claims by the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), through its Director-General, Dr. Rufus Ebegba, that there is no iota of truth in the report that genetically modified (GM) rice is present in Nigeria, the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has charged the agency to conduct tests to assure Nigerians there is no GM rice in ...

Sequel to a media report that the Federal Government and a firm have flooded the Nigerian market with Genetically Modified (GM) rice purported to be poisonous, the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has described the report as false, insisting that GM rice has neither been imported nor released into the country. Director-General of NBMA, ‎Dr. Rufus Ebegba, who disclosed this ...

Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, has called on Nigerians not to panic over the issue of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO). She said on Monday in a statement that, presently, no GMOs are officially grown in the country. “What we have approval are for field trials. All the GMOs in Nigeria officially approved are under experimental fields; the insect resistant cotton ...

The African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE), an Agency of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and Nigeria’s Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu will hold a training programme for African policy and decision-makers on Biosafety, in collaboration with the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) and the Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA. According to a Concept Note developed by the ...