HOMEF, Lawyers, Stakeholders Demand Legislation To Check GMO Products In Markets

A group, Health Mother Earth Foundation, HOMEF, Lawyers and stakeholders have jointly demanded for a legislation to check the activities of Genetically Modified Organism, GMOs product in Nigeria hiding under the false claim of assisting the nation in reducing poverty and hunger.

At a round table discussion  with the theme: ” Promoting Biosafety In Nigeria” in Abuja, the Group said since the passing into law of the bill establishing the National Biosafety Management Act in 2015, Nigeria has become a dumping site for all kinds of GMO products posing serious risk to health and environment.

One of the lead discussants, Nnimmo Bassey during his presentation disclosed that the attempt to alter the natural way of plants in the nation under the influence of GMOs is being sponsored and financed by vested interests in America should be resisted as this will further assist in tinkering with nature’s original way of existence.

He noted that the natural world is a resilient world and a major way by which this resilience is built and preserved is through diversity. ” Diversity raises the chances of survival of species if a part of the group is attacked or altered by some freak incidents”.

He said: ” Diversity within species sometimes enhances multiple usage due to their color, texture, smell and taste. For example, there are about 50 maize varieties in the world today 1 but the most common are the white or yellow ones.

” Today a number of these varieties are genetically modified to either tolerate certain herbicides or to produce toxins that kill off some pests. The business of genetic engineering is just that: business. Promoters target staple crops or varieties with wide industrial usage in a bid to take control of markets and food systems.

” Since the advent of the first wave of modern agricultural biotechnology the promises of this technology have been that they would end hunger, increase yield, reduce chemical inputs and so on. More than two decades on, these claims remain myths”.

Bassey said further that the ruse concerning the technology is the fact that it has been pushed relentlessly by philanthrocapitalism and related business speculators whose major concern is how to dominate the course of nature by ensuring that plants and crops are denied their natural way of growth thereby exposing innocents Nigerians to dangers if urgent actions are not taking to stop the spread.

” The process of subjugation of our agriculture and food systems to corporate interests goes on in various tracks. GMO food products flood our markets without much regulation. HOMEF conducts annual market shelves surveys and finds GMO products in shops and markets across the nation. Most are brought in without any form of authorization by the relevant agency, beyond the NAFDAC numbers on them”.

Inibehe Effiong, a public advocacy lawyer in his reaction said HOMEF can pioneer a

class action lawsuit against the GMOs in Nigeria as a way of putting a stop to further erosion of ethical values associated with natural growth of these plants whose alteration posed a significant threat to humanity

” If what I have listened to from what the various speakers have said, I think it should be taken very seriously. So, I have said here that we can leave here with legislation lawyers who are here willing and excited to be part of the advocacy and legal team to bring a class action lawsuit that can identify all these GMO products in the markets. And to also text our laws. And take the regulators to task because what i have heard here i have not heard before. And, I can imagine people who are not even enlightened or literate about these products in the markets.

” If we are to challenge some of these things through litigation, for example a fundamental right application, i will strongly recommend that the deponent to the affidavit should not be an expert but someone with vast experience and knowledge in biosafety. The implication is that the deposition will not just be treated as the case of the applicant but the court will see it as an expert opinion. That to a large extent may help in issues of probative value or evidential value of whatever averment we are making.

” The precautionary principle can be the basis for making arguments on likely breach of the right to life particularly because if we are able to show that the regulatory agency has not satisfied the pre-conditions for approving this genetically modified organisms. I believed that to a large extent shifting the burden of proof from the legal body to the evidential body. Let them be the one to come out and say we did not carelessly allow this corn or maize to be introduced to the market. This is the safety protocol we have followed. These are the tests, trials and the processes we have followed before we gave this approval.

The lawyer emphasized that the supreme court has now decided in the case of Oil Pollution states against the NNPC that the requirements for locus standi, in cases relating to protection of environment has been abolished in Nigeria.  ” Meaning that i can simply walk to the court based on the fact that this product that is being introduced is harmful.

” I do not need to show that I have been personally affected. That is the purport of that decision by the supreme court, any citizen, NGOS, human right activists and lawyers. This will further enhance our ability to go through the court to resolve this issue. We can seek to have an engagement with the NASS Committee, House of Reps and Senate on environment, health to raise consciousness

to have a public hearing on this issue. So, that the regulators can be taken to task to defend before the Nigerian public why these things are happening and nobody is saying anything about it”.

The approval for commercial release and subsequent distribution of genetically modified beans to farmers in Nigeria is a matter of serious concern as several other GM crops have been approved for importation for food, feed and other processing as well as for field trials.

These go on in spite of the many known implications that GMOs and agricultural modern biotechnology poses to human health, environment and the food system.

Meanwhile, Alliance for Sicience, a blog had in January 2020 published a report saying that Dr. Rufus Ebegba, director-general of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), said all GM crops that had been examined and approved by the biotech regulatory agency were sound and safe for the nation’s adoption and commercialization.

He said the agency will continue to monitor the process to ensure safe application of the technology because it is a relatively new innovation that should be closely tracked for the safety of Nigerians and the environment, he noted.

The fear among the discussants is that most of this products have labels without NAFDAC approval and Nigerians most especially at the Rural areas will not bother to check for it due to poor education and lacl of knowledge.