…Insists anyone who contravenes Bio-safety law Attracts N2.5m fine’
The Federal Government has reinstated its stand on Genetically Modified Goods (GMOs) stating that the efficacy and safety of the products are guaranteed under scientific proof.
The Director General of National Biotechnology Development Agency , Lucy Ogbadu gave the assurance Tuesday during a sensitization seminar on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and Agricultural Biotechnology organised by NABDA for staff of the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja.
Ogbadu said there has never been any negative effect of recorded from any genetically modified organism anywhere in the world, insisting that the fear for GMO foods was based on falsehood and had been trashed scientifically.
She said biotechnology is as old as history,, and that Federal Government established NABDA in 2001 to look at it because it saw what modern biotechnology was doing and can do to benefit the economy.
‘‘There has never been any negative effect of any genetically modified organism anywhere in the world. If you know of any let me know? The fear for GMO foods is based on falsehood and has been trashed scientifically.
‘‘Biotechnology is as old as history. In 2001, Federal Government established the NABDA to look at it because it saw what modern biotechnology is doing and the benefits. If federal government is not interested in modern biotechnology, it would not have come up with policies that established NABDA as an institutional framework.
‘‘Federal Government has shown in so many ways that modern biotechnology is the way to go for any nation that wants to develop.
‘‘The contribution to our economy is positively huge because the dividends are huge. The contribution to GDP is in billions of dollars because those nations that have embraced modern biotechnology are already getting huge dividends in terms of dollars earnings annually,’’ she said.
Apart from its routine advocacy, she said that the agency have been involving farmers in all their field trials, assuring that the farmers would definitely experience unprecedented boom in their farms when the crops are eventually commercialized.
‘‘Farmers are always there with us. The farmers are always involved in the trials. We don’t have problem with them. What they are concerned about is the benefits. They are interested because they have not seen any hazardous effect in the technology.
‘‘Though, there are no commercial product, but when they finally come on board, those of them in the pipeline, will be commercialized,’’ Ogbadu said.
In his own presentation, the Director General of National Biosafety Management Agency, Rufus Egbabe said that five years imprisonment awaits or N2.5 million fines awaits defaulters in the event of contravention of the biosafety law if such a person is found guilty.
On whether anybody had been sanctioned, he said that the agency had been carrying out surveys and had mandated all dealers to remove all GMO foods on their shelves until their status are certified and their dealings formalised so that they will be sure of what we have in the market and also guarantee the safety of Nigerians.
In his reaction, the National Coordinator, Food Safety Programme in the Ministry of Health, Fubara Chukwu said the ministry had not carried out any research on the safety of GMO foods but rely wholly on NABDA and NBMA.
‘‘On our part, we have not carried out any research, we are looking at NABDA and NBMA. It is a sensitive issue. What I can assure you is that we will take the right step to come up with a position on GMO foods, though we may be slow in taking the decision,’’ he said.
