Food Sovereignty Of Ghana Cautions Against GMO�s

Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG), a food advocacy organisation, on Tuesday noted that there are unrelenting attempts to impose genetically modified organisms (GMOs) food on Ghanaians. It said the Plant Breeders Bill (PBB) suffered a setback in Parliament, due to the robust workings of Ghanaian democracy. A statement issued by Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah, FSG Chairperson in Accra and copied to Ghana News Agency said majority of Ghanaians are against the bill and have made their well-informed opinions known. �However, powerful foreign governments, multinational corporations and foundations, big Agribusiness, still want the bill passed. �They have not stopped their efforts to force the PBB through Parliament and force their GMO seeds onto Ghanaians. They have too much money at stake. Europe and even the United States are turning against GMOs. Forcing GMOs on Ghana and all of Africa is necessary for their financial survival, not for our survival. �Predictably, their next step will be a series of supposedly �educational� initiatives. They did the same thing last year, as soon as the PBB was confronted with numerous petitions and had to be withdrawn for further consultations. �We therefore know from experience that the pro PBB/GMO forces will again sponsor forums in which they will extol the alleged virtues of seemingly miraculous GMO crops. They will call anti-GMO activists ignorant and anti-science�They will ignore or belittle the reasons we oppose GMOs,� the statement said. It said there is no reliable science that supports GMO safety or long term productivity and there is an ever-increasing body of research that points to enormous dangers and destruction to health and the environment from GMO crops and related chemicals. The statement said where GMOs are more productive, the effect only lasts three to five years, then the toll exacted by the toxic chemical pesticides and fertilizers begins to reveal its devastation on the land and the crops. �To date, all serious studies tell us the only way to sustainable agriculture is with small family farms, a rich diversity of seeds, and inputs that do not poison the land, the air, the water, and all the people, plants, and animals that live there.�