By Sylvester Thompson
Dr Rose Gidado, Country Coordinator, Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFABI), says rigorous testings are done on all biotech crops before being commercialised, and when approved for commercialisation, they are safe for consumption.
Gidado said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
According to her, foods made with biotech crops have been in the market for years and are safe as traditional crops.
Gidado, also Deputy Director, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), was reacting to negative comments that foods made with biotech crops are unsafe for human consumption.
The OFAB Nigeria Coordinator also debunked the myth that biotech crops are not safe for animal consumption either.
Biotech crops have been used for feeds for more than 18 years and there is no record of sickness or fatality.
Transgenic crops are subjected to a thorough safety assessment that includes a demonstration of required genetic stability prior to approval.
Conventionally bred and organic crops that carry far more mutations are not subjected to safety review, she said.
Gidado also spoke on the myth that seed companies forced farmers to buy expensive seeds and also sued farmers who planted biotech crops without their permission.
In response to this, she said that more than 90 per cent or over 18 million famers that planted biotech crops in 2014 were small resource-poor farmers in developing countries.
She pointed out that the unprecedented increase in number of farmers planting biotech crops showed that biotech crops delivered substantial, sustainable, socio-economic and environmental benefits.
In all cases, farmers are given the freedom to choose which types of seeds they wish to plant, she said.
On the issue of biotech crops being harmful to the environment, she said current farm practices, including the use of pesticides and herbicides were harmful to the environment.
Gidado maintained that those farm practices were also harmful to humans health, to farmers and consumers as well.
She said that biotech crops that were designed to be pest resistant would significantly reduce the use of pesticides and herbicides, thereby reducing the risk to the environment and human health.
Gidado noted that biotechnology could actually contribute to the environment through the development of alternative energy sources.
She also reacted to the myth that field trials of biotech crops were dangerous with high risk of contaminating other non biotech crops in near-by fields.
Field trials are conducted under very strict conditions and follow stringent regulations, she said.
Gidado disclosed that those conditions include prevention of pollen flow and the prevention of entry into food and feed pathways.
She further said that failure to comply with any single condition or regulation meant that the trial would be stopped.
On the issue of lack of scientific data supporting that organic food was any safer than regular food, she said that genetic modification happened naturally.
According to her, farmers have been cross-breeding plants for centuries, depending on trial and error, to get the desired results.
The expert said biotechnology was a safer, more deliberate way of achieving and replicating the desired results.
In another development, she said there was no scientific data that proved organic farming to be safer than any other kind of farming.
Gidado said that there was no data to prove that Genetically Modified (GM)) crops were unsafe.
She also said that farming biotechnology crops actually required fewer resources than conventional farming.
Source: NAN News