The Association of
Catholic Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (ACMPN) has declared that the
application of any technology without adequate assurance of safety is immoral,
reports ITRealms.
Rising from its 12th scientific conference and annual
general meeting with the theme Genetically-Modified Organisms: How Harmful,
Harmless or Beneficial? which took place at the Catholic Institute of West
Africa (CIWA), Port Harcourt from 6th to 8th July, 2017, the group noted that
food and adequate nutrition are among the basic needs of people; and so the
case for improved methods of food production and distribution is legitimate and
noble.
ACMPN in a communique made available to ITRealms at the
weekend and endorsed by the National President, Dr. Emmanuel Okechukwu and Secretary,
Local Organising Committee (LOC), Dr. Nera Kadiri-Eneh, pointed out that strict
control is necessary in the introduction and deployment of new technologies in
such area as the manipulation of genetic materials across species, the effects
of which we may not predict or mitigate.
“We commend the efforts by the government in establishing
the GMO regulatory and development agencies. However, it would appear that both
funding and technical capacity render them ill-equipped to effectively and
efficiently carry out their essentially patriotic roles. In the current
scenario, the processes of regulating GMOs are skewed in favour of the
international promoters and merchants of GMOs who wield strong financial
influences.
"Thus, without substantially exploiting the existing safe and
natural technologies neither of agricultural advancements nor of our vast land
and water resources (including the new pro-biotic microbial technology),
dabbling into the controversial GMO technology is overtly precarious,” the group
said.
They stressed their endorsement of the position of the
Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria expressed at the sensitization workshop
on faith-based perspectives on GMOs which was co-hosted by the Catholic
Secretariat of Nigeria on February 7, 2017 in Abuja, to the effect that in
order to protect the health of Nigerians and the integrity of our agricultural
landscape as well as national food security, the Precautionary Principle should
be applied.
In addition, ACMPN said they aligned with the position of
eminent Nigerian Christian and Muslim scholars convoked by the Nigerian
Inter-Religious Committee (NIREC) which in 2016 evaluated some 250 documented
evidences and interacted with the Nigerian GMO regulatory and development
agencies on the issues of GMO safety.
Further, the committee concluded that there are illegal GMOs
already circulating in the country as foods, which are unknown to, and
unregulated by the designated agencies. Also, other illegal and unverified GMO
crops are in dissemination within the country’s agricultural map. This
situation is highly deplored as it portends grave dangers to family health and
national food security.
A total of 77 participants from 16 states and the Federal
Capital Territory as well as 14 dioceses attended the events.
Uboshe Uboshe/GEE
Pix: Onu Ogbonnia, Minister Science & Technology
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