The GMO lobby is showing signs of desperation. Once again they are on the offensive with a major public relations push targeting East Africa, particularly Uganda, in an attempt to subvert African policy development towards their own narrow ends. Their immediate goal is to weaken national biosafety laws, thereby removing any barriers to their access […]
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Soil quality has direct impact on the quality of harvests. Poor soils produce poor yields and climate change affects the quality and availability of soil for food production. We experience this directly when there are floods or droughts. The increasing desertification in Nigeria can be attributed in part to climate change. Poor soil management is […]
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Should science not be in the public interest and in service of society? The answer to that is obvious and it is a YES. Science has to be in the interest of society. Is all science in the interest of society? Again, this question attracts an easy answer and that answer is NO. Must a […]
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The task of ensuring that science responds to popular needs of society should be the major challenge that scientists have to overcome. While that task is met regularly, the issue of presenting science in a way that citizens can easily grasp can be daunting. Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), the ecological think tank, hosted […]
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The key myths by which citizens are sold the idea of GMOs as being desirable include that they provide the most assured way of feeding the burgeoning population of hungry mouths in the world. The planks on which this highly seductive myth has been erected are quite flimsy. Research has shown that GMOs do not […]
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The need to interrogate what patriotism means in the context of the challenges of the push of modern agricultural biotechnology into Nigeria and Africa has been instigated by an article published in EnviroNews by a “Lagos-based research scientist” titled “Biotech agencies NIREC report and unpatriotic activism.” That article opened with this claim: “Recently, a group representing […]
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Recently there was a news report that the National Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) cautioned the Nigerian government with regard to permitting Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) foods into Nigeria. That significant report may have escaped many Nigerians. However, the strident denial by the directors general of National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and National Biosafety Management Agency(NBMA) that […]
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BENIN CITY DECLARATION ON PROMOTING BIOSAFETY IN NIGERIA At the conclusion of the One day Stakeholders meeting on Promoting Biosafety held at BAR HOUSE, Benin City, Edo State, by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in Collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association Edo State, on the 22nd February, 2017, the Stakeholders brought to […]
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In a study in the early 1990’s rats were fed genetically modified (GM) tomatoes. Well actually, the rats refused to eat them. They were force-fed. Several of the rats developed stomach lesions and seven out of forty died within two weeks. [1] Scientists at the FDA who reviewed the study agreed that it did not […]
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On Monday, 15th August, I was privileged to be a panelist at the ‘Experts meeting on Bio-safety & Bio-technology-GMOs’ organized by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture. In attendance were the Minister’s of Science &Technology, Agriculture and Environment. In their opening remarks, they made it clear that they look to these conversations […]
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