Enforce ban on GMO products to save lives

Without much fanfare, 1,000 farmers in Kenya were picked in March to begin trials to grow cotton using genetically modified seeds.

This was a major decision that should only have been taken after extensive public consultation, given the implications.

For many years, it has been a poorly kept secret that foreign Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) corporations have seen East Africa and Kenya in particular, as a promising market for their products.

Many in the country, however, have strongly urged for caution in adopting GMOs given the potential health effects on the masses.

Following strong public pressure and demands by Members of Parliament for greater transparency, Kenya banned the use of GMO products in 2012.

Despite this, Kenya’s National Biosafety Authority has approved the cultivation of Bt cotton for commercial purposes, which can be considered as an intermediate stage in the decision to lift the ban on the circulation of GMO food and animal feed.

This is a serious development. Clearly, it signals that the intense lobbying that GMO corporations – most prominently Bayer (formerly known as Monsanto) have been engaging in across Africa is yielding fruit.

There are many reasons to worry about this development and health is only the most important.

Apart from this, it has been established in repeated studies that agricultural producers who engage in the cultivation of GMO crops after yielding to US lobbying pressure become dependent on the multinational GMO producers.

Monopolies on seed supply allows them not only to establish any prices they wish, but also to dictate agricultural policy.

This is an unhealthy setup to say the least, given that these corporations are driven by the desire to maximise profit.

The approach they take  by working in partnership with NGOs is shrewd and effective.

For a long time now, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which also happens to be a major shareholder in Monsanto has been investing heavily in urging Kenyan farmers to adopt hybrid plant varieties. 

Given this has been going on for a few years, the government should order an independent study to find out the effect of this approach as these varieties have been shown to have a lower yield than traditional ones.

More importantly, parliament should look into this matter urgently.  Why are these hybrid varieties being allowed in Kenya and yet they are  prohibited in the European Union’s territory as are most GMO products?

The health implications are of course the most serious. Scientific studies in numerous countries have proven there are real health risks that accompany human consumption of GMO produce. 

In March 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer published a study indicating that glysphate, a primary ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, which is used in large scale commercial agriculture for GMO crops and whose residues accumulate on plant produce, was carcinogenic for animals and could be carcinogenic for humans too.

In April 2018, an American court fined manufacturing giant Monsanto $289 million for the damage caused to the health of a ground-keeper who used Roundup.

 Are we confident in allowing such corporations so much power in intervening in our agricultural sector? 

Given the long term ecological, economic and above all health consequences, parliament should step in and enforce the ban on GMO produce. — The writer is an independent researcher