Organisers and editors in a group photograph after the workshop
THE Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) Ghana and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) last Friday held a workshop for media editors on the safety of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) in Accra.
The workshop formed part of activities aimed at creating awareness on the existence and safety of GMOs, as well as the development of the pod borer resistant variety of cowpea in the country.
There were presentations by number of individuals from the organising institutions, as well as researchers, who explained various aspects of GMOs to participants.
A researcher with the Agricultural Research Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Dr. Daniel Osei Ofosu, stressing on the safety of GMOs said “there is no cause for alarm,” and explained that GMOs were just “a replication of what is happening in the natural world.”
“It costs over $100 million to produce GMOs,” he disclosed, adding that, “We’ll only do this if it is essential to the survival of mankind.”
According to him, there are currently two types of GMO crops in Ghana, which are the BT cowpea and the new rice.
The BT cowpea variety, he underscored, was being developed to combat the destructive bean pod borer, which causes over 60 per cent yield loss in beans production.
He intimated that with recent advances in technology, the development of the new GMO varieties was done mostly with plants that do not cross genetically.
Chief Executive Officer of the National Biodiversity Authority, Eric Okoree, on his part assured that GMOs are as safe to consume as any other food varieties.
“We will only approve consumption of GMOs if they are the same as the conventional varieties. If the GMO has received the seal of the appropriate authorities, then it is very safe.
“There are laws and structures in place to ensure that the development of GMO foods meets the country’s strictest safety standards,” he stressed.
“Consequently, anyone trying to develop GMOs in Ghana would have to get approval from about seven agencies, including the Ministry of Agriculture (MoFA); the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA); the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).”
BY Nii Adjei Mensahfio