Ghana to regulate import of GM food

Cabinet has approved a Bill which will enable the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service and the Immigration Service to monitor, regulate and control genetically modified food products imported into the country.

The Bill on Biosafety, which will soon be forwarded to Parliament, will as well promote the exchange of biotechnology data between Ghana and her neighbours, said Ms Sherry Ayittey, Minister for Environment, Science and Technology.

Speaking to the Times in Accra yesterday, after a workshop on Taxonomy Needs Assessment, Ms Ayittey said "Ghana is not opposed to genetically modified food products."

The problem with genetically modified products in Ghana, she said, was that it has not been properly understood; that is why the mention of the technology creates panic among people.

She, therefore, urged scientists in the country to break the myth about it through public education.

A genetically modified food has an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The practice has raised both moral and health issues among scientists and civil society organisations.

Ms Ayittey said "we have to look at the positive aspect of GMO," and stressed that public education would play a major role in demystifying the falsehood about it.

She said the New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD) had opened an office in Burkina Faso to promote biological information sharing.

Taxonomy is the science of discovering, naming, describing, ordering and communicating about living organisms in an environment.

The three-day workshop is being attended by participants from Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria.

The Minister said the proper use of scientific information in the face of climate change and land degradation would help improve food security in the country.

She said the crop harvest currently in both United Kingdom and America stood at 50 per cent, while Africa harvested only five per cent.

Turning the spotlight on taxonomy, she said the science which is the basis for knowledge on all living organisms on earth, is fundamental to achieving the Millennium Development Goals of poverty reduction, combating disease and environmental sustainability.

Ms Ayittey said Ghana ratified the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and hoped the taxonomy project would ensure the proper conservation and sustainable use of the countrys biological resources.

"I want to assure our scientists, especially those in the biological and its applied sciences, that MEST is available to consult with them in the best way to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of Ghanaian biodiversity wherever they are found," she stated.

The Minister hinted that a committee had been set up to plan some activities for the observation of the 20 10 International Year of Biodiversity.

She commended the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DERFA) for funding the assessment project.

An official from the UK Natural History Museum, Dr Christopher H.C Lyal, said biodiversity management use, conservation and research could not be managed without names, and said the project would help determine the needs of agriculture, forestry, conservation, education, and many other areas for taxonomic information.

Professor Alfred A. Oteng-Yeboah, chairman of the Ghana Taxonomic Needs Assessment Project, said a research done on taxonomy had revealed that there was a gap in terms of infrastructure and capacity building in the sector.

He said the workshop was to discuss the report, refine details and suggest means of meeting the needs identified, and added it would also discuss national and regional taxonomic capacity

Professor Oteng-Yehoah said through the project, the concept of taxonomy was being taken up to the national level.