GMOs: Potential risk or not?

By Konrad Kodjo Djaisi

A Deputy Director at the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, Mr. Eric Amaning Okoree, has said that genetically modified organisms have been consumed globally for fifteen years without anybody complaining of any adverse effect.

 Mr. Okoree, who is a member of the National Biosafety Committee at the Ministry of Science and Environment, was reacting to concerns that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could have adverse health effects on consumers of the products in an interview with B&FT.

Tracing its adoption in the country, Mr. Okoree said the country ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992 and the convention on biological diversity came out with a protocol on biosafety in the year 2000 known as the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

 Ghana ratified that convention in 2003, in compliance with the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety which provides countries the opportunity to obtain information before new biotech organisms are imported and acknowledges each country’s right to regulate bio-engineered organisms subject to existing international obligations.

Subsequent to that, the Biosafety Act, Act 831, 2011 was passed to enable the country allow the application of biotechnology in food crop production involving genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to enter food production.

Mr. Okoree said the sociology behind technology transfer is always accompanied with the perception of adverse implications. He said, as a scientist, he would not accept anything that does not have data to back the assertion -- and therefore would not buy the assertion that GMOs are harmful.

 He however conceded that technically, they (scientists) recognise there is a potential adverse effect because they do not want to leave anything to chance.

He explained that the process of creating GMOs in the laboratory goes through an elaborate process; and between the laboratory and the open market where the product will eventually find its way, there is quality assurance -- thereby reducing the impact of any perceived risk.

When queried about the level of GMO penetration in the country, Mr. Okoree said there isn’t any since any admission into the country would have to be cleared with the National Biosafety Committee -- of which he is the current Secretary. Without the law to establish a regulatory body, Mr. Okoree said it would be a crime to import any GMO product into the country without the express consent of the Committee.

However, a long-term study published in September this year on the effects of GMOs showed that one kind of genetically modified product -- Monsanto’s GMO corn -- is not only a health hazard but caused massive cancerous tumours to develop in rats fed on a long-term diet of this corn.

There is strong current research showing the adverse effects of GMOs on mammalian metabolism. This study is one of a few, since current research also being carried out in Australia and Canada is showing GMO toxins crossing the barrier from mother to child in pregnant women.

The studies showed pregnant women and their children having high quantities of 3-methylphosphinico propionic acid (3-MMPA), a metabolite of gluphosinate (itself a substance used in GMO herbicides) as well as Bt toxin (GMO protein) Cry 1 Ab. Both substances are linked to GMOs.

One can find studies that show contact with 3-MMPA can lead to cancer, DNA damage and reproductive health problems. Tanzania’s parliament has recently had a debate and the people of Tanzania, led by responsible parliamentarians, have come to the conclusion that GMOs are not for Tanzania.

In West Africa, neighbouring Burkina Faso is currently using biotechnology for farming -- particularly in cotton and vegetable production, while Togo, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mali and South Africa are also applying the technology.

At the passage of the Biosafety Law, the Chairman of the Biosafety Committee said the law was needed to improve the safety of food, improve its yield and ensure its security -- hence the law will ensure that the necessary measures are put in place to address food safety and its security.

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