It is my humble request to trace out and investigate facts regarding GMOs
BAHAWALPUR: I am a farmer based in Bahawalpur and a regular reader of The Express Tribune. I recently read a news story, “Genetically Modified: GM crops — boon or bane” on August 12. Whereas The Express Tribune always publishes unbiased and factual stories, the article this time seemed to be written in a way that only benefits multinational genetically modified organism (GMO) seed companies. This can harm farmers, the agriculture sector and trade.
One day prior to the publication of the article, I attended an Islamabad event called Commercialisation of GM crops in Pakistan and would like to highlight some errors. First, the Pakistani government only approved genetically modified corn seeds to use for nationwide testing and its commercialisation would be later, so no green light has yet been given.
Secondly, a Ministry of Climate Change representative admitted after a long discussion that the Ministry does not have the capacity, skill, nor infrastructure to conduct risk assessment of GMO crops, so the approval process is not according to the one outlined in the National Biosafety Guidelines 2005.
The whole event was controlled by pro-GMO lobbyists. When farmers raised questions as to why Bt Cotton, approved since 2010, has not yielded satisfactory production, they were humiliated. When questions were asked regarding health and environment, pro-GMO participants ignored them.
A professor from the Agriculture University in Peshawar highlighted a number of issues that the GMO seed industry is facing. Farmers’ livelihoods have been targeted with the contamination of GMO with non-GMO crops and the usage of pesticides on GMO crops, which the World Health Organisation has declared may cause cancer in humans.
It is my humble request to trace out and investigate facts regarding GMOs so that the public can make informed health decisions.
Ijaz Ahmad Rao
Published in The Express Tribune, August 17th, 2016.
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