A group, the Global Prolife Alliance, on Tuesday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to fire the board and management of the National Biosafety Management Agency, NBMA.
The chairman of the group, Philip Njemanze, made the call in Owerri, Imo State, on Tuesday while addressing journalists.
Mr. Njemanze hinged the call for the sack of the leadership of the agency on the issuance of two permits for the introduction of genetically modified crops in the country.
Despite public outcry, the NBMA had issued permits for commercial release cotton, MON 15985, genetically modified for lepidopteran insect pest resistance and Confined Field Trial (CFT) of maize, NK603 and MON 89034 x NK603, genetically modified for insect resistance and herbicide tolerance.
The two permits, posted on the NBMA website, is signed by agency’s Director-General, Rufus Ebegba.
It is said to have been issued to Monsanto Africulture Nigeria Limited on May 1, 2016, which was a work-free day in the country.
Mr. Njemanze said the action was in total disregard for the safety concerns regarding GMOs crops expressed by leading governments around the world.
He argued that some of the countries, who have rejected the technology have had firsthand experience with genetically modified maize.
According to him, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Luxemburg, Austria, Hungary and Greece have banned the same insect-resistant corn variety citing environmental concerns.
He quoted the German Agricultural Minister, Ilse Aigner, who banned the cultivation of GMO corn and the sale of its seeds, as saying that she had “legitimate reasons to believe that MON 810 posed a danger to the environment”.
No comments:
Post a Comment