Farmer Davies Calls GMOs ‘Perfectly Safe’

• Says GMOs are safe to consume

• Calls for national dialogue

• maintains that GMOs are drought, pest and disease resistant

NFFAWAG boss Davies Narh Korboe is maintaining a strong resilience in his push for the acceptance of the Genetically Modified Organisms.

Chairman Davies as he’s popularly known believes in the sanctity of GMOs and has a message for those advocating against its adoption: GMOs are safe.

This view of the Board Chairman of FMSL Ghana may strike some as controversial, as many people think that genetically modified foods are dangerous.

“Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) is very safe for human consumption without any side effects,” he told host Austin Ofori Addo in an interview on the Rite Morning Ride.

Though it may seem contentious, Mr. Korboe’s stance is in line with that of most scientists who study GMOs.

The 2009 national best farmer praised GMO for its pests and disease free qualities, drought resistance as well as its ability to withstand varying climate changes.

The abilities of the technique to withstand the onslaught of pests and disease, he added puts a GMO practicing farmer in an advantaged place of reductions in production costs in reduced weedicides, insecticides, spray and the propensity to enjoy high yield.

Referencing findings by the American Standards Authority and World Health Organization to buttress his point, Mr. Korboe said the world was gradually accepting the GMO as the surest bet towards sustaining food security.

Farmer Davies’ latest assertions on the GMO controversy come in the wake of renewed debates on whether Ghana should adopt the GMO technique of food production in Ghana.

While describing such debates as unnecessary, he stressed that the only way out of the uproar is for a national dialogue on the subject.

Meanwhile, most advocates for GMOs argue that the breeding technique is an important tool in the fight to end world hunger and malnutrition.

They maintain that not only are genetically modified foods “perfectly healthy,” but that they see them as a promising tool in a wider array of resources in the fight to reduce world hunger.

“GMO foods are perfectly healthy and the technique has the possibility to cut starvation and malnutrition when it is reviewed in the right way,” advocates say, adding that people’s stance against the technique is disappointing.

In recent years, companies have submitted more than 43,000 products to the Non-GMO Project, an organization that certifies products that don’t contain genetically modified ingredients. And sales of such products are skyrocketing — today, they represent more than $22 billion in yearly sales, the organization says.

Organizations like the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the European Commission have publicly said genetically modified foods are safe to eat. A large 2013 study on GMOs found no “significant hazards directly connected with the use of genetically engineered crops.”

And nearly all the food we eat today has been genetically modified in some way. Dozens of crops, from corn to watermelon, have been selectively bred for thousands of years to give us the traits we find desirable, like large amounts of sweet, edible flesh, or small seeds.

Source: Joyce Bedeley/ritefmonline.org/jbedeley9357@gmail.com/Prince Paul Amuzu/www.ritefmoline.org/princeamuzu667@gmail.com