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The Plant Breeders Bill before Parliament, on Thursday generated disagreement with proponents insisting it is the way Ghana should go while opponents maintain it would be disastrous for the country. At media sensitisation workshop on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), proponents and opponents took turns to brief journalists on why GMOs should be embraced or why Ghana should tread cautiously. The day�s event is a partnership between the Graphic Communications Group Limited and the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development to equip journalists with the requisite knowledge on GMOs. Professor Walter Alhassan, Scientist and a proponent said GM is a subset of biotechnology and noted that the technology seeks to increase yield, improve protection from insects and disease, increase crops� tolerance to heat, drought, and other environmental stress. According to him the Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is presently conducting confined field trials on BT cowpea and BT cotton in the Northern Region. Prof Alhassan said biotech in agriculture would ensure access to appropriate improved crop varieties in production to achieve food security. He explained that a GM seed for agricultural production is a choice farmers would have to make when Ghana goes commercial in production, whilst Ghanaian consumers also make similar choice to purchase and consume GM foods. Biotechnology in agriculture involves the use of scientific methods to produce genetically modified food crops that are more pest, disease and drought resistant and with short maturity periods. The Biosafety Law in Ghana was passed in 2011, to allow the application of biotechnology in food crop production involving GM Organisms to enter food production. The law also ensures an adequate level of production in the field for safe development, transfer, handling and use of GMOs. Opponents are of the view that GMOs are organisms which genetic material have been altered using genetic engineering techniques and come about as a result of laboratory process that fuses genes from one species with another in an attempt to obtain a desired trait or characteristic. In most cases, they are used to produce genetically modified foods for the western countries and can be produced on a large scale within a short time and therefore serve as a good relief to countries battling food insufficiency. Its introduction into the country they say would come at a cost, especially given that they will compete with naturally produced crops for patronage and consumption. Mr Yaw Opoku a member of Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG), an advocacy movement, has called on parliament to delay the passage for a thorough debate on GM foods, saying selling your food sovereignty is worse than slavery �and that is exactly what the bill sought to do�. However Prof Alhassan said there are adequate and thorough safety measures in the country to manage environmental and health risks associated with biotechnology. Mr Opoku on the other hand debunked the assertion saying there are a lot of regulatory bodies in the countries that are not living up to expectation. Mr Ken Ashibgey, Managing Director of the Daily Graphic said the debate on the GMOs is taking many twists with civil society groups emerging to support or oppose it. He said there is the need for journalists to be informed to lead the debate on the subject.