Catholic doctors in Nigeria are calling on the national government to regulate the use of Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs.
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Jason Tutu – the head of communication for Food Sovereignty Ghana – claimed, “GMO products carry known health risks such as organ damage, sterility, infant mortality, birth defects, low sperm quality and increase risk of cancer.”
Isaac Ongu, a Uganda-based Agriculturist with the Genetic Literacy Project has said, “It is fashionable in Africa to blame every strange or inexplicable health condition on genetic engineered food or ingredients.”
So far in Africa, only South Africa has planted more than a million acres of genetically modified crops.
According to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Africa spends $40 billion every year on food imports. Without a sharp rise in food production, the situation could be much worse by 2050, when Africa’s population is expected to climb from 1.2 billion to 2.4 billion people.
Those facts have made GMOs an attractive option to many governments.
While recognizing that nutrition falls within the realm of the “basic needs of humans” and therefore improved food production and distribution techniques remain critical to human survival, the [Association of Catholic Medical Practitioners of Nigeria] cautioned that “the application of a technology without adequate assurance of safety is immoral.”
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