From Douglas Blessing
The federal government has been urged to promote the review of biosafety laws that will favour Nigerians.
A Non Governmental Organization, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), made the call yesterday, during its ecology school held virtually.
According to a statement by Kome Odhomor, Lead, Media and Communication of HOMEF, the group demanded that government should enforce the precautionary principle which they noted is the bedrock of biosafety regulation.
The Executive Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey said that preservation of the biodiversity is critical for the productivity of small scale farmers who he described as those feeding the world.
He added that monocultures and colonial agricultural patterns promote species loss, soil degradation and dependence on chemical pesticides and herbicides.
According to Bassey, technologies are being promoted in a bid to present industrial agriculture as a climate solution rather than as the problem that it is.
“These emerging technologies are not about tractors or irrigation systems, they are about big data that would monitor soils for nutrients, water and other parameters and would promote the use of technologies that could eventually create farming without farmers”, HOMEF Director added.
On his part, Dr Ifeanyi Casmir, an Associate professor in the department of Veterinary Medicine University of Abuja, noted that Biosafety as a term speaks to actions and policies in place to protect nations from harmful practices.
He noted a lack of synergy between the biosafety regulators and other agencies such as NAFDAC and Ministry of Health who regulate food system and asserted that because of this “Biosafety and food systems have become a concern with regard to public health in Nigeria. What causes the concern and debate is the lack of appropriate coordination, people are now wary of what they eat”.
Also speaking at the virtual conference, Joyce Brown said “We must be careful how we interact with nature because we will bear the consequences. We must ensure and be sure of the kind of technology we want before adopting them. Let’s be careful how we use science before it becomes a big issue for us”.
She added that “Strengthening issues that threaten our policies should not be encouraged
by our government. We need to invest more on research and close the knowledge gaps that exist in the public, government and scientific circles”.
Speaking “on the gaps and opportunities in Biosafety Laws in the light of the African Model Law”, Prof. Johnson Ekpere noted that African nations had seen the need to provide a broad legal framework within which nations would determine how best to frame their biosafety laws
Prof Ekpere, a former Secretary General Scientific of the Technical and Research commission of Organization of Africa Union (OAU/STRC), stated that “we have completely destroyed the traditional breeding system because of the entrance of Genetically Modified Organisms.”
According to him, “there is really no difference in productivity between GMOs and traditional bred crops. The agency that is in charge of biosafety in Nigeria should be consistent with its work, and all decisions should be backed by local research rather than on results from other countries”.
