In
Far away United States Of America, a war has been raging of recent-the
war against Monsanto, the food giant that spearheads the research into
and production of genetically modified foods, foods manufactured using
the activities of genetically modified organisms, GMO. Their Congress
has passed a bill that makes it against the law to label foods on the
market shelves as being a product of genetically modified organisms. The
debate was that, given the fact of an overwhelming evidence that
genetically modified foods are harmful to humans, and government
insistence that only genetically modified foods are the best for the
country, every food that contains GMO should be labeled so that
Americans have a choice in deciding whether to buy the GMF or the
naturally produced foods. In fact, in recent times, there has been
several recalls of shelf foods due to the fact that they were deemed to
have used undeclared chemicals in their production.
The government
has been at war with the farmers who produce and sell directly to
consumers without resort to genetics, with the accusation that their
foods are contaminated with the Salmonella species of bacteria.
Salmonella is the main causative agent for diarrhea. For example,
American federal and state regulators are seeking legal sanctions
against farmers in Maine, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and
California, among others. These sanctions include injunctions, fines,
and even prison sentences for farmers who fail to join the genetic
bandwagon.
Genetic modification of foods started in the nineteen
eighties. The biotechnology giant Monsanto began to genetically alter
corn to withstand its activities in trying to round up their weed
clearing agenda-or herbicide roundup, as it was generally referred to.
The goal was to eradicate weeds but not crops and resist a corn pest
called the corn borer. These small changes in the Deoxyribonucleic acid,
DNA, the building blocks of proteins in the body, of the corn are
expressed by the plant as proteins. Those proteins act as allergens,
provoking a disorder marked by the overproduction of a type of white
blood cell called an eosinophil.
The U.S. government started
approving GMO corn and soybeans for sale in the mid-1990s, and today,
88% of corn, and 93% of soybeans, are the transgenic varieties.
According to my findings, due to cross-pollination via winds, birds, and
bees, there's no such thing anymore as a GMO-free corn crop in the U.S.
"It's almost impossible to find a corn source in the United States that
doesn't have the [protein] in it," Dr. Mansman, an allergist who works
in a Virginia hospital, told an American Magazine.
Beyond all the
hype, beyond all the gobbledygook, GMFs have become the stable shelf
food in Europe and America, and the idea has become acceptable in other
parts of the world. In fact the Nigerian National assembly has hurriedly
passed the bill to back the genetically modified foods production in
the country. Former President Goodluck Jonathan set up a committee to
vet the so called biosafety bill as passed by the National Assembly
before he could sign it into law. Then, participants at the 10th
anniversary of African Agricultural Technology Foundation, AATF seminar
say Nigeria's dream of achieving food sufficiency in 2015 will be a
mirage, unless the country adopts biotechnology in the agricultural
sector. Even Olusola Saraki, a senator and chairman senate committee on
environment and ecology, who is currently the Senate President, decried
the delay in signing the bill into law. "As a matter of fact, the
benefits of signing the bill into law by Mr President are numerous," he
said." These include regulating the safe application of biotechnology in
Nigeria to harness benefits in fields of agriculture, medical,
environment sustainability and industrial growth." Further more, the law
will promote technological and material transfer for research
collaboration and commercialization in biotechnology." According to him,
since 1996, biotechnology-driven crops had been commercially planted
and their adoption had increased steadily, with over 8.5 million
planting them in 21 countries, with most African countries developing
biosafety.He also noted that all over the world, scientists, who
recognized the benefits of the technology, had been at the forefront of
the call for safety and regulation of activities in the field of
biotechnology. "Therefore, there is the need for Mr. President to assent
to the bill in the interest of our nation and the attendant economic
and employment opportunities that come with it," he had said. "If this
feat is achieved, Nigeria, as a nation, would be sufficient in food
production and thereby, save the cost of annual food importation and
diversify same into a value chain mechanism."
But the question is,
how safe is BMF? Investigations indicate that even scientists at the
forefront of the promotion of biotechnology are coming out to speak
against it. Most food literature focuses on poor nutritional quality of
canned and pre-packaged food, which is the only source of food to
certain urban people who have no access to fresh foods from the farm.
Chemicals found in food packaging are unhealthy-as, for example,
Bisphenol A, or BPA. This chemical has been banned from baby bottles and
sippy cups in the United States but find ways into the stable
consumption of the nouveau-rich in Nigeria. Since it is used to line
food cans, intended as a protective barrier between the metal and the
can's contents, BPA actually leaches into the food we eat. The effects
of leaching BPA are likely most detrimental for pregnant women, babies
and children. This chemical has been linked with obesity, cancer (breast
and prostate), early onset of puberty, Attention Deficient
Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD and retardation of development of brain and
nervous systems. The case of early puberty has been a serious societal
issue that results in increased rape cases and pedophilia simply because
the children look older than they actually are. And Monsanto and other
companies are at the forefront of these drugs. France has banned the use
of BPA in the preservation of canned foods with effect from 2015. Soon,
other European countries will follow suit. Apart from BPA, Aspartmine
is another chemical. Aspartame has been linked to several different
cancers and even degenerative brain conditions. Consuming aspartame
regularly will burn out neurons and has been linked to headaches, mood
alterations and even brain tumors. It is regarded as a healthy and
sweeter alternative to sugar, though it actually causes diabetes and may
also cause obesity. It was developed in a bio-weapons laboratory from
excrement from bacteria culture and bleached with other chemicals by
Monsanto corporation. It is currently sold under different brand names
and used in food seasonings. Unfortunately this chemical, originally
sold by Monsanto Corp, is now being re-branded under different names
There are currently efforts underway to include aspartmine in milk and
so called diet products-"low sugar" or "sugarless" drinks, even though
aspartame is contained in many products already that do not list it as
one of the ingredients. But by far the most important of these products
are the genetically modified foods. "Introduction of genetically
modified food has raised a number of fears, some genuine and some
irrational," says Dr.Leo d'Souza, a Jesuit priest and biotech
researcher. "Human fears, whether genuine or irrational, have to be
attended to." These fears are currently being expressed by Nigerians who
are skeptical of the benefits of the foods. For example, The Daily
Trust Editorial of 26 June 2013 was particularly critical of the bill.
"It may come as something of a surprise," the paper wrote, "to some,
even shock to many, that such a profound policy step would be taken
without as much as consultation with the public." The paper continued:
"Still, even in advanced nations that have pioneered the technology and
fully embraced the crops, controversies over them linger. Scientists
have raised concerns about their effect on human health and on the
environment. It is alleged that the crops damage the soil and that large
quantities of fertilizers and hazardous chemicals are required to
successfully cultivate them. And for particularly the developing world,
GM crops portend another challenge of having to depend on giant
companies in the West for seed imports to replant as some of the crops
do not have seeds or those with seeds cannot produce high-yield
varieties when they are planted. Unless these allegations about the
disadvantages of the crops are satisfactorily addressed, it would be
premature to expose Nigerian farmers to GM seeds when the technology is
still in its infancy in the country, if at all." The paper insisted that
the main challenge now is that a large percentage of the national
arable land is not being put under cultivation. " Since the advent of
the oil boom nearly four decades ago, successive governments have paid
scant attention to agriculture as a national security issue. This is the
time to do it, by going back to agriculture, which offers better food
and economic security than oil. Efforts should also be made to find a
solution to the huge post-harvest losses that farmers suffer. If these
and many other steps are taken, the country may in the end find it does
not have any need for inorganic substances like GM crops to feed the
people," the paper concluded.
A group known as the Mother Earth
Foundation frowned seriously at the proposed bill. In a statement signed
by Nnimo Bassey, Director of the organization, noted that African
countries have been generally resistant to the policy. "Contrary to the
claims of the{minister of science and technology), Burkina Faso has not
introduced GMOs into their food.", Bassey said, "That country planted
genetically engineered cotton otherwise called Bt Cotton. The first
harvest of that cotton last year was a big disappointment as the farmers
got short fibre cotton rather than the long fibres they harvested from
the conventional cotton they were used to planting. South Africa is the
most problematic on the continent when it comes to the regulation and
introduction of GMOs. Public resistance have been strong, but the
historical political context must also be considered in understanding
the path the nation began to toe and the difficulties in ensuring a
transition from certain routes. Studies by the African Centre for
Biosafety has revealed that corn products supplied by Tiger Brand in
South Africa to companies including to Dangote Foods, a Nigerian
conglomerate, has high GMO corn contents. This revelation ought to drive
the Nigerian government to order an investigation into the importation
of unwholesome foods and food products into Nigeria rather than making
announcement of backdoor moves to ambush Nigerians into eating GMOs
without their consent." They noted that the widespread dependence on
chemical inputs have led to the death of pollinators like bees and
saddled the world with silent farms and forests without insects and
other beneficial species. "Certainly Nigeria does not want to join the
ranks of nations that hire or buy bees to pollinate their farms," Bassey
noted. "We are not sure also that Nigerians want to toe a path that may
lead to farmers pollinating their crops by hand," he concluded. A
federal minister has recently indicated that one of the GMO companies
has been approved to open up an office space in the country. "Yes,
Monsanto may soon be in Nigeria", a source from the ministry of
Agriculture said, "the honorable minister is all taken up with the
program."
Studies have shown that GMO feeds have proven harmful to
pigs. According to a report, "GM-fed females had on average a 25%
heavier uterus than non-GM-fed females, a possible indicator of disease
that requires further investigation. Also, the level of severe
inflammation in stomachs was markedly higher in pigs fed on the GM diet.
The research results were striking and statistically significant. The
new study lends scientific credibility to anecdotal evidence from
farmers and veterinarians, who have for some years reported reproductive
and digestive problems in pigs fed on a diet containing GM soy and
corn." Pigs have basically the same digestive structure with humans, and
pork is a stable food in most countries. Most of these pigs are eaten
by humans with accumulated GMO passed on to humans who consume them.
Genetically
modified foods are a typical example of how man tries to show he can
control nature. But the final effect will be a disaster to mankind,
because, in the new time, every distortion of natural order will be
violently corrected, resulting in so many hitherto unknown diseases.
Unfortunately, this will coincide with the time of total collapse of
World economy, amid political crisis and Natural disasters in a time
that was described as a time of great tribulations.
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