www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Information gathered by The Statesman reveals that the international
community has began workshops for stakeholders in a bid to educate and
persuade them to accept genetically modified foods in Ghana by Adu Koranteng
.
A source at the headquarters of the Food and Drugs Board have hinted that a
bill has been drafted and expected to be presented to Parliament for
adoption and approval on how GM foods would be regulated if allowed to
circulate in the local market.

The Food and Drugs Board is said to be lacking the equipments for testing
genetically modified foods. In that regard, it is presently collaborating
with the Noguchi Institute, a Japanese Establish research institute that has
the tools to test such items.

Presently, the country frowns on the importation of GM foods with the view
that it lacks the expertise to regulate the system. Besides, officials have
little knowledge about its effect on humans and would need scientific proof
about how it works before it would be allowed into the system.

The source debunked the assertion that GM foods, especially rice had been
smuggled into the country and are being sold to local consumers, insisting
that the market surveillance unit of the Board is yet to find a GM product
in the system, even after they intensified their search after media reports
of GM foods in the country.

Ghana recently signed a pact, joining some 150 countries, that opposes the
imposition of GM foods on them. This has propelled the international
community to set up rules that would facilitate the use of the items by the
third world countries. These include, educating them adequately on the
benefits and effects of GM products and providing scientific bases on GMs.

GM products are identified by the bold inscription "GM" on the packages.
They are produced from genetically modified organisms which have had their
genome altered through genetic engineering techniques, and have been
available since 1990, with the principal ones being derived from soybean,
maize, rice canola and cotton seed oil.

Some experts have argued that there is more than enough food in the world
and that the hunger crises is caused by problems in food distribution, not
production and that people should not be offered food that may carry some
degree of risk. Others say it might have unforeseen consequences, both in
the initially modified organisms and their environments.

In December 2005, the Zambian government changed its mind in the face of
further famine and allowed the importation of GM maize. In April 2004, Hugo
Chavez announced a total ban on genetically modified seeds in Venezuela. The
Hungarian government announced a ban on importing and planting of genetic
modified maize seeds in January 2005.

On August 2006, American exports of rice to Europe were interrupted when
much of the US crop was confirmed to be contaminated with unapproved
engineered genes.

[www.thestatesmanonline.com]