Why we must say no to Genetically modified food (GM foods) .
Definition
Genetically modified foods, GM foods or genetically engineered foods, are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering as opposed to traditional cross breeding.
According to the World Health Organization, "Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be defined as organisms (i.e. plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination. The technology is often called 'modern biotechnology' or 'gene technology', sometimes also 'recombinant DNA technology' or 'genetic engineering'. ... Foods produced from or using GM organisms are often referred to as GM foods.
I will not like to go the history or how it came to play.
Risk associated with the consumption of GM foods.
1. HEALTH CONSEQUENCES.
The rise in autoimmune diseases, infertility, gastrointestinal problems and chronic diseases may be associated with the introduction of GM foods. In a position paper by the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, the authors ask all physicians to consider the role of GM foods in the nation’s health crisis, and advise their patients to avoid all GM foods whenever possible. The Academy also recommends a moratorium on GM seeds and calls for immediate independent safety testing and the labeling of all food items containing genetically modified products. As of 2010, the U.S. does not require food manufacturers to identify foodstuffs produced with genetically modified crops.
2. ENVIROMENTAL DESTRUCTION
Most GMO seeds are genetically engineered to be herbicide tolerant, resistant to insect infestation and disease. Environmentalists worry that the characteristics of GM crops may encourage farmers to increase their use of herbicides and pesticides, which will raise human consumption of dangerous toxins. GM crops also manufacture their own pesticides, which puts further poisons into humans and soil and may cause unforeseen changes in the environment. Another concern is that toxins contained in the GMO plants may harm other organisms, such as monarch caterpillars, bees and birds. The pesticide found in genetically modified cotton and corn is implicated in the deaths of poultry, cows, horses, sheep and buffalo worldwide
3. 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 International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report, authored by more than 400 scientists and backed by 58 governments, stated that GM crop yields were “highly variable” and in some cases, “yields declined.” The report noted, “Assessment of the technology lags behind its development, information is anecdotal and contradictory, and uncertainty about possible benefits and damage is unavoidable.” They determined that the current GMOs have nothing to offer the goals of reducing hunger and poverty, improving nutrition, health and rural livelihoods, and facilitating social and environmental sustainability.
On the contrary, GMOs divert money and resources that would otherwise be spent on more safe, reliable, and appropriate technologies.
4. GMOs contaminate―forever.
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.
Though I am in support of mechanized farming, but we must do the right thing. Nigerian Farmers let us say no to GMO products.
list of countries that have banned GMO products.
Asia (4)Turkey,Kyrgyzstan,Bhutan,Saudi Arabia
Americas (4) Belize,Peru,Ecuador,Venezuela
Europe (28) Scotland,Wales,Northern Ireland,Germany,France,The Netherlands,Malta,Cyprus,Greece Bulgaria,Russia,Serbia,Croatia,Italy,Denmark,Hungary,Moldova,Latvia,Lithuania,Austria,Poland,Slovenia,Azerbaijan,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Luxembourg,Ukraine (although there is massive GM contamination in the country),Norway,Switzerland.
Africa (2)
The picture on GM cultivation bans across Africa is not clear due to the current pressure being put on many African governments by the Biotech industry and the Gates Foundation to lift long-standing bans on the import of unmilled GMO seeds or unmilled GMO food aid, however two countries do still have full legal bans on GM crop cultivation: Algeria (since 2000),Madagascar (since 2002)

https://www.facebook.com/nwosu.osinachi.5/posts/851602084985418

thanks Op

LASTICLALA, Ishilove who is the moderator? pls move this to FP we must save our country. i may attach a snake pics if need be, lol only snakes do hit FP back to back.

All I see in the article is fear-mongering left, right and centre.
Even on this continent at this very minute GM foods've penetrated into our food sources. I've been eating seedless oranges for the longest time now and haven't felt any different or short-changed.

Want to try an experiment? Give a starving child the world over a GM food. See if he/she rejects it because it was tampered with. You see how pointless this argument is now?

charix:
All I see in the article is fear-mongering left, right and centre.
Even on this continent at this very minute GM foods've penetrated into our food sources. I've been eating seedless oranges for the longest time now and haven't felt any different or short-changed.

Want to try an experiment? Give a starving child the world over a GM food. See if he/she rejects it because it was tampered with. You see how pointless this argument is now?

so the food dat over 40 countries av rejected is wat u are willing to accept. mtcheeeew

divineappo:
so the food dat over 40 countries av rejected is wat u are willing to accept. mtcheeeew

Over 40 developed countries.

Please provide us a list of the 40 developed countries ^^^^

Thank you.

http://sustainablepulse.com/2015/10/22/gm-crops-now-banned-in-36-countries-worldwide-sustainable-pulse-research/#.VvpzhnkUWM8

read up

Genetically modified foods are safe for humans as they have passed every test which is purely rigorous. What exactly are GM foods? It is the gene or a particular gene that has been modified or cut off to enhance either its nutritional content, disease resistance, drought/weather sturdiness, cross breeding, hybrid vigor(Heterosis) etc.

The world population is expanding and this accompanied with the adverse change in the climate which corresponds to less land; which has been eroded chemically with excessive fertilizers. The solution? Grow more with less land. How can it be done?

* Develop GM seeds and sell/give to farmers which will help them cultivate more on less land. An instance is Burkina-Faso which increased its cotton production. GM seeds did the magic.
* Enhance research into crops and find how they can grow even in the most torrid of conditions.
* Develop more nutritional value for our crops and food. An example is the carotene in cassava which adds the vitamin A into a formerly excessively poly-saccharide meal, and a staple one at that.

There's absolutely wrong with GM foods. What Nigerians are displaying, unfortunately, is ignorance. Our agric sector cannot continue with its traditional mode of cultivation. This is why the likes of Brazil, India, China and without mentioning the US have exceeded us in adding value to agro-products and this is where we need the likes of Syngenta, Monsanto, BayerCropScience, BASF, Bill Gates, IITA etc. Hopefully, I'll write an article in the dailies on why we need GMOs/GM foods.


https://www.nairaland.com/3012292/say-no-bill-gates-cassava/1#44564583

Gerrard59:
Genetically modified foods are safe for humans as they have passed every test which is purely rigorous. What exactly are GM foods? It is the gene or a particular gene that has been modified or cut off to enhance either its nutritional content, disease resistance, drought/weather sturdiness, cross breeding, hybrid vigor(Heterosis) etc.

The world population is expanding and this accompanied with the adverse change in the climate which corresponds to less land; which has been eroded chemically with excessive fertilizers. The solution? Grow more with less land. How can it be done?

* Develop GM seeds and sell/give to farmers which will help them cultivate more on less land. An instance is Burkina-Faso which increased its cotton production. GM seeds did the magic.
* Enhance research into crops and find how they can grow even in the most torrid of conditions.
* Develop more nutritional value for our crops and food. An example is the carotene in cassava which adds the vitamin A into a formerly excessively poly-saccharide meal, and a staple one at that.

There's absolutely wrong with GM foods. What Nigerians are displaying, unfortunately, is ignorance. Our agric sector cannot continue with its traditional mode of cultivation. This is why the likes of Brazil, India, China and without mentioning the US have exceeded us in adding value to agro-products and this is where we need the likes of Syngenta, Monsanto, BayerCropScience, BASF, Bill Gates, IITA etc. Hopefully, I'll write an article in the dailies on why we need GMOs/GM foods.


https://www.nairaland.com/3012292/say-no-bill-gates-cassava/1#44564583

I hope you realise that India is seriously debating stopping all GM Cotton cultivation due to negative results. if only GM crops could produce more than non-GM variants then your argument will hold water. GM is the Lie that keeps on giving. You cannot grow GM crops without heavy doses of pesticides. Even Bukina Faso that you mentioned have banned GM Cotton. See links below:

The Huge Problem With Genetically Modified Cotton That’s Ruining India’s Agriculture: (http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2016/04/organic-cotton-farming-india/)

Burkina Faso - Top African Poducer Bans GM Cotton: (http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-top-african-producer-burkina-faso-bans-gm-cotton-2205706)

midastouch:


I hope you realise that India is seriously debating stopping all GM Cotton cultivation due to negative results. if only GM crops could produce more than non-GM variants then your argument will hold water. GM is the Lie that keeps on giving. You cannot grow GM crops without heavy doses of pesticides. Even Bukina Faso that you mentioned have banned GM Cotton. See links below:

The Huge Problem With Genetically Modified Cotton That’s Ruining India’s Agriculture: (http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2016/04/organic-cotton-farming-india/)

Burkina Faso - Top African Poducer Bans GM Cotton: (http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-top-african-producer-burkina-faso-bans-gm-cotton-2205706)

They complained of poor quality which is not to be blamed on GM crops. Brazil, China, India and many countries are embracing GM crops. Nigeria cannot be among top food producers without applying GM crops same way we can't get uninterrupted power supply without having nuclear power among our sources.
http://www.nature.com/news/india-eases-stance-on-gm-crop-trials-1.17529
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/india-launches-its-first-genetically-modified-crop-8031


No doubt, there're safety concerns, that's why we have regulators. It's same thing with drug/pharmaceuticals.

Gerrard59:



They complained of poor quality which is not be blamed on GM crops. Brazil, China, India and many countries are embracing GM crops. Nigeria cannot be among top food producers without applying GM crops same way we can't get uninterrupted power supply without having nuclear power among our sources.
http://www.nature.com/news/india-eases-stance-on-gm-crop-trials-1.17529
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/india-launches-its-first-genetically-modified-crop-8031

We can get stable power supply without Nuclear. Solar is becoming cheaper and more refined rapidly even as it is within touching distance from coal power plants in terms of cost per mega watt-hour.

Standing5:

We can get stable power supply without Nuclear. Solar is becoming cheaper and more refined rapidly even as it is within touching distance from coal power plants in terms of cost per mega watt-hour.

Solar energy can't give us the enormous amount of energy that we need to drive industrialization, development and the up-liftment that Nigeria needs. All developed countries use coal, nuclear power, gas powered. China is building new coal stations every year, why haven't them resorted to solar? Considering the fact the Chinese are excellent at constructing "cheap" things. I read in the Guardian some years back, that to get 2,000 MW of electricity using solar, we'll need the size of Abuja . Imagine if we need 100,000 MW? . Albeit, solar wouldn't be the only source, but it's not practical for us and cost efficient.

India, South Africa, Brazil, Russia use nuclear; it's Nigeria that needs to power itself desperately, we'll need solar power? Even Japan(third largest economy, no G20 country relies on renewable energy and that includes Germany) that suffered a nuclear disaster(Fukushima), reverted to nuclear energy as it's cheaper than fossils fuel and renewable energy(solar, wind) even though nuclear energy is a renewable source of energy. It's Nigeria who possess abundance of fossil fuels that requires solar energy?

Gerrard59:


Solar energy can't give us the enormous amount of energy that we need to drive industrialization, development and the up-liftment that Nigeria needs. All developed countries use coal, nuclear power, gas powered. China is building new coal stations every year, why haven't them resorted to solar? Considering the fact the Chinese are excellent at constructing "cheap" things. I read in the Guardian some years back, that to get 2,000 MW of electricity using solar, we'll need the size of Abuja . Imagine if we need 100,000 MW? . Albeit, solar wouldn't be the only source, but it's not practical for us and cost efficient.

India, South Africa, Brazil, Russia use nuclear; it's Nigeria that needs to power itself desperately, we'll need solar power? Even Japan(third largest economy, no G20 country relies on renewable energy and that includes Germany) that suffered a nuclear disaster(Fukushima), reverted to nuclear energy as it's cheaper than fossils fuel and renewable energy(solar, wind) even though nuclear energy is a renewable source of energy. It's Nigeria who possess abundance of fossil fuels that requires solar energy?

You missed it totally. Infact solar is our surest bet to power industries. Read up the case of India where they get solar power at less than N20/kw-h(using N320/$ rate). The limitation of solar is its variation between day n night, otherwise solar is even more favourable due to our intensity of sunshine in west Africa. Plus we have vast amount of 'deforested' land up North that wouldn't be ready for farming anytime soon.
If industries run mostly in day time then solar is our best option.

Standing5:
You missed it totally. Infact solar is our surest bet to power industries. Read up the case of India where they get solar power at less than N20/kw-h(using N320/$ rate). The limitation of solar is its variation between day n night, otherwise solar is even more favourable due to our intensity of sunshine in west Africa. Plus we have vast amount of 'deforested' land up North that wouldn't be ready for farming anytime soon.
If industries run mostly in day time then solar is our best option.

Gerrard59:

[/b]No G20 country relies on renewable energy and that includes Germany[b]) that suffered a nuclear disaster(Fukushima),

You didn't write anything countering this point. Solar energy is not sustainable for a country like Nigeria. 170 million and almost the size of Texas?
Even Singapore(one of the most densest places on earth) doesn't utilize solar. Even nuclear power is more than solar and I can bet it was cheaper

Gerrard59:




You didn't write anything countering this point. Solar energy is not sustainable for a country like Nigeria. 170 million and almost the size of Texas?
Even Singapore(one of the most densest places on earth) doesn't utilize solar. Even nuclear power is more than solar and I can bet it was cheaper

I don't av to counter a misplaced argument. India is densely populated and is using it. One of our problem as a country is the copy n paste syndrom. You can't just say since G20 don't use it, it isn't economically or functionally viable for you. We have certain factor hugely in our favour that the isn't as favourable to most G20 nations. Sunshine, wind speed, land, low power consumption per head (we use less power individually) etc are some of those factor. Stop quoting textbook arguments and learn to relate you own unique situation to solutions before throwing them out of the window.

Standing5:
I don't av to counter a misplaced argument. India is densely populated and is using it. One of our problem as a country is the copy n paste syndrom. You can't just say since G20 don't use it, it isn't economically or functionally viable for you. We have certain factor hugely in our favour that the isn't as favourable to most G20 nations. Sunshine, wind speed, land, low power consumption per head (we use less power individually) etc are some of those factor. Stop quoting textbook arguments and learn to relate you own unique situation to solutions before throwing them out of the window.

I'm not quoting text book knowledge. What I'm saying is: Nigeria cannot go anywhere economically without having a diverse source of energy. Why should a country of our size and potentials utilize renewable energy? Solar, Wind?

We want Nigeria to be a top nation economically and instead of we supporting ventures that will give us a large percentage of power at CHEAPER rate. We have gas, water, coal; which will give us power in large quantity and someone's suggesting solar energy?

Additionally, we consume less power because we don't have it all. The more a nation develops, the higher its power consumption rate. I used the G20 example because they constitute 85% of the global economy and 75% of world trade, and I repeat NONE of them(G20 countries) depend on renewable energy as it's not economical.

Na solar and wind energy you wan use power skyscrapers, ports, airports, industrial plants, automobile production facilities, cement factories, refineries etc?

I think the problem is not whether Nigeria as a nation should switch to a renewable form of energy or not. What we need to look at is ways to use solar energy and all other forms of energy such that we have constant power supply! The energy that the sun supplies daily is way more than one can imagine, but we are still far behind in learning how to harness and utilize this energy. One thing is sure though, the business people who manage to use solar power to their advantage will be way ahead in a couple of years to come.

I belive this post worth to be in front page

Gerrard59:
Genetically modified foods are safe for humans as they have passed every test which is purely rigorous. What exactly are GM foods? It is the gene or a particular gene that has been modified or cut off to enhance either its nutritional content, disease resistance, drought/weather sturdiness, cross breeding, hybrid vigor(Heterosis) etc.

The world population is expanding and this accompanied with the adverse change in the climate which corresponds to less land; which has been eroded chemically with excessive fertilizers. The solution? Grow more with less land. How can it be done?

* Develop GM seeds and sell/give to farmers which will help them cultivate more on less land. An instance is Burkina-Faso which increased its cotton production. GM seeds did the magic.
* Enhance research into crops and find how they can grow even in the most torrid of conditions.
* Develop more nutritional value for our crops and food. An example is the carotene in cassava which adds the vitamin A into a formerly excessively poly-saccharide meal, and a staple one at that.

There's absolutely wrong with GM foods. What Nigerians are displaying, unfortunately, is ignorance. Our agric sector cannot continue with its traditional mode of cultivation. This is why the likes of Brazil, India, China and without mentioning the US have exceeded us in adding value to agro-products and this is where we need the likes of Syngenta, Monsanto, BayerCropScience, BASF, Bill Gates, IITA etc. Hopefully, I'll write an article in the dailies on why we need GMOs/GM foods.


https://www.nairaland.com/3012292/say-no-bill-gates-cassava/1#44564583

Oga, leave all this long talk. GMO was introduced soley for profit and neglecting health concerns in both Man and animals. It's causing more harm than good.

Gerrard59:
Genetically modified foods are safe for humans as they have passed every test which is purely rigorous. What exactly are GM foods? It is the gene or a particular gene that has been modified or cut off to enhance either its nutritional content, disease resistance, drought/weather sturdiness, cross breeding, hybrid vigor(Heterosis) etc.

The world population is expanding and this accompanied with the adverse change in the climate which corresponds to less land; which has been eroded chemically with excessive fertilizers. The solution? Grow more with less land. How can it be done?

* Develop GM seeds and sell/give to farmers which will help them cultivate more on less land. An instance is Burkina-Faso which increased its cotton production. GM seeds did the magic.
* Enhance research into crops and find how they can grow even in the most torrid of conditions.
* Develop more nutritional value for our crops and food. An example is the carotene in cassava which adds the vitamin A into a formerly excessively poly-saccharide meal, and a staple one at that.

There's absolutely wrong with GM foods. What Nigerians are displaying, unfortunately, is ignorance. Our agric sector cannot continue with its traditional mode of cultivation. This is why the likes of Brazil, India, China and without mentioning the US have exceeded us in adding value to agro-products and this is where we need the likes of Syngenta, Monsanto, BayerCropScience, BASF, Bill Gates, IITA etc. Hopefully, I'll write an article in the dailies on why we need GMOs/GM foods.


https://www.nairaland.com/3012292/say-no-bill-gates-cassava/1#44564583

It's obvious your genes have been modified