From Our Correspondent
Pro-organic farmers and agro-ecologists staged a rally in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Friday to protest Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), which they considered food poison.
TheNewsZenith reports that GMO-Free Nigeria organised the rally in collaboration with the Organic and Agroecology Initiative (ORAIN).
Prof. Olugbenga Adeoluwa, leader of the group and professor of Soil Fertility at the University of Ibadan, said they were against GMOs.
He added that ORAIN was raising awareness about its impending danger.
TheNewsZenith also reported that the Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Bayo Olaniyan, submitted a petition to the House.
The group kicked against the approved genetically modified beans, cotton and maize approved by the Nigerian government.
They cited toxic herbicides like Round-up and others approved by government agencies.
“We say no to the incursion of these negative scientific innovations into our food systems.
“This is so, not just in Nigeria, but all over the world.
“Genetically modified technology in food systems has been found to counter human health.
“There are many diseases like cancer, organ failure and hormonal failure traced to food consumption.
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“This is as a result of manipulation of our food system right from the field,” TheNewsZenith quotes Adeoluwa as saying.
According to him, many research outputs showed the correlation between the consumption of GMO foods and human diseases.
An example, he noted, is the inflammation of specific organs in human cells.
Adeoluwa acknowledged that there are biosecurity challenges.
This means no guarantee curtailing these GMO foods and crops from entering Nigeria’s food system.
“We are saying no to GMO food in Nigeria. No to anything that can compromise our health. No to negative scientific innovations called GMO food,” he said.
Also speaking, a senior lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Dr Mojisola Oyewole, said the rally was to press home the negative impacts of GMOs.
Oyewole noted that the effect of GMOs on the individual’s healthy living “is non-negotiable. So, we are in the movement of saying no to GMOs in our society”.
TheNewsZenith reports that Oluwafemi Adebayo from the Department of Agriculture Extension and Rural Development, is one of the protesters.
He pointed out that GMOs have adverse effects on people’s lives.
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