Ghana Temporarily Bans GMO Commercialization
Will the ban stick?
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Yet another country has put banning GMO’s on their agenda.
Though the case will still be reviewed by high courts in Ghana, Judge Kwadwo Yeboah ruled for a temporary halt on any further commercialization and development of GMOs until the case submitted by plaintiffs Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG) against the Ministry of Food & Agriculture and the National Biosafety Committee is concluded.
The case was heard February 17th and the court adjourned until March 3 in order for His Lordship Anthony Kwadwo Yeboah to review documents requested by the court in lieu of verbal presentations in court.
In true biotech style, The Attorney General’s (AG) representative requested that the court join the National Biosafety Authority as well as the AG’s department to the case as 3rd and 4th defendants respectively.
Food Sovereignty Ghana is a grass-roots movement of Ghanaians, home and abroad, dedicated to the promotion of food sovereignty in Ghana. FSG still maintains that:
“. . . the National Biosfety Committee has unlawfully been operating in the place of a National Biosafety Authority and is in clear breach of the provisions of the Biosafety Act 2011 Act (831), as regards the need for public awareness and participation in decisions affecting the release of genetically modified organisms into the environment.”
It has taken over four years of active petitioning for the court to hear the evidence presented by FSG. Hopefully, the ban will continue after the court adjourns and makes a decision April 2.
If so, Ghana would join countries as diverse as Thailand, Venezuela, Brazil, Russia, Switzerland, and Australia that have also banned GMOs, among many others. Could it be looking to Kyrgyzstan,which decided to become one of the first countries in the world to ban all GMO crops as well as the sale and importation of genetically modified organisms? Perhaps allowing citizens to enjoy better reproductive, cellular, and digestive health while the environment evades millions more pounds of pesticides is a leading factor for the ban.
Joining the trend of other Asian countries to ban GMOs, with China’s recent refusal of 8 different shipments of GMO corn and the nation of Bhutan also going 100% organic, the tide seems to be turning for Monsanto and biotech monopolies who would push herbicide-‘resistant’ seed on the world.
 | Christina Sarich is a humanitarian and freelance writer helping you to Wake up Your Sleepy Little Head, and See the Big Picture. Her blog is Yoga for the New World. Her latest book is Pharma Sutra: Healing the Body And Mind Through the Art of Yoga. |
GMO and its associated lethal pesticides and herbicides are dangerous poisons. Eating genetically modified corn (GM corn) and consuming trace levels of Monsanto’s Roundup chemical fertilizer caused rats to develop horrifying tumors, widespread organ damage, and premature death. rats exposed to even the smallest amounts, “developed mammary tumors and severe liver and kidney damage as early as four months in males, and seven months for females.” The animals on the GM diet suffered mammary tumors, as well as severe liver and kidney damage. Everywhere GMO is being grown, food allergies, disorders such as autism, reproductive disorders, digestive problems, and others have been skyrocketing in the human populations.
There has been a drastic decline of crop-pollinating insects all over the world, and what this means for the future of the world’s food supply. Wild pollinators like bumblebees, butterflies, and beetles are basically disappearing. GMO industrial agricultural practices are causing this insect genocide. Pollinating insects in general, which include a wide range of insects and other animals, are simply vanishing from their normal habitats and foraging areas. That lower diversity and lower abundance of wild insects means less fruits and destruction of the diversity of plants and their fruits worldwide.
GMOs cross pollinate and their seeds can travel. It is impossible to fully clean up our contaminated gene pool. Self-propagating GMO pollution will outlast the effects of global warming and nuclear waste. The potential impact is huge, threatening the health of future generations. GMO contamination has also caused economic losses for organic and non-GMO farmers who often struggle to keep their crops pure.
GMOs increase herbicide use. Most GM crops are engineered to be “herbicide tolerant”―surviving deadly weed killers. Monsanto, for example, sells Roundup Ready crops, designed to survive applications of their Roundup herbicide. Between 1996 and 2008, US farmers sprayed an extra 383 million pounds of herbicide on GMOs. Overuse of Roundup results in “superweeds,” resistant to the herbicide. This is causing farmers to use even more toxic herbicides every year. Not only does this create environmental harm, GM foods contain higher residues of toxic herbicides. Roundup, for example, is linked with sterility, hormone disruption, birth defects, and cancer.
GM crops and their associated herbicides can harm birds, insects, amphibians, marine ecosystems, and soil organisms. They reduce bio-diversity, pollute water resources, and are unsustainable. For example, GM crops are eliminating habitat for monarch butterflies, whose populations are down 50% in the US. Roundup herbicide has been shown to cause birth defects in amphibians, embryonic deaths and endocrine disruptions, and organ damage in animals even at very low doses. GM canola has been found growing wild in North Dakota and California, threatening to pass on its herbicide tolerant genes on to weeds.
By mixing genes from totally unrelated species, genetic engineering unleashes a host of unpredictable side effects. Moreover, irrespective of the type of genes that are inserted, the very process of creating a GM plant can result in massive collateral damage that produces new toxins, allergens, carcinogens, and nutritional deficiencies.
GMOs do NOT increase yields, and work against feeding a hungry world.
Whereas sustainable non-GMO agricultural methods used in developing countries have conclusively resulted in yield increases of 79% and higher, GMOs do not, on average, increase yields at all. This was evident in the Union of Concerned Scientists’ 2009 report Failure to Yield―the definitive study to date on GM crops and yield.
The toxins associated with GMO should never be tolerated. NEONICOTINOID PESTICIDE neurotoxins are absolutely the main factor causing the collapse of bee and pollinator populations along with other lethal chemicals, Agent Orange herbicides, glysophate, etc. When these poisons are banned as they were in Europe the bee populations start to recover. GMO neonicotinoids, roundup etc. MUST BE BANNED OUTRIGHT and all the farmers along with USDA, Biotech and chemical companies told to cease and desist from what they are doing.
An even scarier prospect: the “BT” version of GMO soybeans and corn, (basically pesticides engineered directly into the plant )
The “BT toxin” gene is put into the DNA of the corn in order for it to manufacture its own toxins that kill pests. The BT gene originated from a soil bacteria that also infiltrates the microflora (friendly digestive bacteria) in your gut. The Bt gene converts the microflora in your intestine into toxin-manufacturing machines.
So, to be clear, eating GMO corn products can cause your gut (which is primarily responsible for keeping you healthy) to turn into a breeding ground for tiny little pesticide factories inside your body, actively creating toxins which are designed to kill living things. These toxins are found in the blood and are readily transferred across the placenta to developing babies in the womb.
GMO’s are unproven as safe, and unnecessary .
http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4720-gmos-fooling-er-feeding-the-world-for-20-years
” it therefore meant that there would be a temporary halt on any “FURTHER” commercialization and development of GMO until the case is concluded”
Seems to me this is just a what is will be, and what isn’t has a temporary road block. Not to be a pessimist, but I’m sure some one will get there palm greased up on this. I’m sure that’s going on as we read.
You imply that the worlds largest producer of gmo soybeans has a ban on gmos. Very bad reporting.
Amazing that people actually still consume GMO soybeans and GMO soy products.
Not really, most people believe the 85%+ of the scientists that say gmos are safe.
And together, you, your “scientists” and all converts say:
“2 + 2 = 5.”
That’s true. With gmos you get greater than the sum! Thanks for pointing that out.
Hope you’re right!
http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4720-gmos-fooling-er-feeding-the-world-for-20-years