GMOs - Ghana's survival and sovereignty is on the line - CPP

Fellow citizens, a great danger threatens our survival and sovereignty. A danger that comes from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) entering our food chain.

We, the Convention People’s Party (CPP) care about the collective well-being of the people of Ghana. It is our duty to alert the nation to the dangers of GMO’s as the NDC, NPP and other parties are failing to ask the right questions and raise the necessary concerns.

What is at stake is: • Our health and survival as a people • The sovereignty of our nation • Our food security and self-reliance • Control over our land and resources

Worldwide, there are many controversies over the safety and viability of GMOs, yet there has been very little consultation or debate in Ghana about this hazard to all of us. GMOs are living organisms, genetically altered using techniques such as gene cloning and protein engineering. It applies to plants, animals or microorganisms.

The CPP is not against science and technology to increase food production but we prefer methods that are sustainable without degrading the environment. Losing control over our resources and failing to protect our land is detrimental to our survival and progress.

Concern over safety and many un-answered questions has led the European Union to restrict the use of GMOs in Europe

. The High Court in India has placed a moratorium on GMOs

. Mexico has rejected it outright

. Other countries such as Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Japan, Bulgaria, Luxembourg are totally against and have declared and voted to be GMO-free zones.

GMOs have been linked to toxins and allergies, illnesses, sterility, dead livestock, and damage to virtually all organs in lab animals.

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) has called for a moratorium on all GM Foods stating that “GM Foods pose a serious health risk in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health, metabolic, physiological and genetic health.”

Observation of animals fed GMOs reveal that if GMOs are allowed into our food chain, Ghanaians are at risk of:

• Infertility

• Immune dysregulation

• Accelerated Aging

• Dysregulation of genes associated with cholesterol synthesis, Insulin regulation, cell signaling and protein formation.

• Changes in liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal organs. Instead of protecting us, the government of Ghana has sanctioned the testing of GMOs on our soil.

In so-called “Confined Field Trials” GMO cowpea, cotton, rice and sweet potatoes are being grown in Nyapkala in the Tolon District, apparently to contribute to food security and to improve the livelihoods of small holder farmers. We have been turned into guinea pigs for GMO foods.

A Bill tabled in parliament – “The Ghana Plant Breeders Bill 2013”, seeking to be compliant with the INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NEW VARIETIES OF PLANTS, also known as UPOV 91 - will take away the freedom of Ghanaian farmers to save, share, exchange, sell or grow local organic varieties. They will be forced, instead to buy every year, GMO seeds from multinational agribusiness companies, who will hold Intellectual Property Rights over these GMOs.

The Convention People’s Party (CPP) opposes signing Ghana up to UPOV 91. Ghana's Parliament must wake up and rise to the challenge and halt the inclusion of GMOs in our food chain and signing the Plant Breeders Bill. We join others in saying No to the Plant Breeders Bill! No to GMOs!

Nii Armah Akomfrah

CPP Director of Communication

www.conventionpeoplesparty.org