GMO Foods Are Safe For Human Consumption -Scientist

A Senior Research Scientist, Dr. Mrs. Marian Quain has debunked claims by anti-Genetically MODIFIED ORGANISM (GMO) activists that accepting the GMO will come with its own health implications. According to Dr. Quain, such concerns stem from misconception, emphasizing that many studies and research had gone into the development of GMOs, which prove that they are safe for human consumption. She has, therefore, called on Ghanaians to embrace the use of biotechnology in agricultural production to ensure increased crop yields, adding that Biotechnology is a tool employed by scientists to manipulate the genetic-make up of organisms to produce improved breeds. �Genetic engineering would not only boost agricultural production but would also improve the incomes and livelihoods of farmers as well as the country�s economic situation,� she stressed. Dr. Quain, who heads the Biotechnology Research Programme at the Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-CRI) noted that Ghana cannot feed its people if it continues using the same strategies in farming in the future, adding that there is the need for the country to adopt improved means of food production to meet the rising food needs of the populace. Making a presentation at a three-day day workshop for Northern Sector journalists at Ejisu, Dr. Quain stressed that Ghana at the moment did not have any genetically modified crops released unto the Ghanaian market and urged Ghanaians to trust the Ghanaian scientists of something good. She warned, �With Climate Change, if we go on with agriculture as we always do, we will go begging for food in the near future. There is need for genetic engineering of crops to enable them (crops) to survive in the changing climatic conditions to assure the population food.� The training programme organized by the Programme for Biosafety System (PBS), International Services for the Acquisition of Agri-biotich Application (ISAAAA), AfriCenter, and the African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE) was to deepen the knowledge of the journalists on biotechnology and biosafety issues to ensure fair and balanced reportage. Participants were taken through the practical and theories on Biotechnology and Biosafety, the Biosafety Act, the Plant Breeders� Bill, Biotechnology Applications in Nigeria and Burkina Faso, among other issues. Professor Walter Alhassan, Member of the Programme for Biosafety Systems � Ghana, called for objectivity and the scaling up of Science Reporting to demystify misconceptions about scientific issues to enable the citizenry have a balanced understanding of the issues.