GM crops: campaigners in Ghana accuse US of pushing modified food
Source: Guardian
GM crops: campaigners in Ghana accuse US of pushing modified food
From farmers to MPs, debate over seed ownership and the role of foreign influences on agriculture is causing divisions in Ghana
Afua Hirsch, west Africa correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 July 2013 02.00 EDT
The US embassy in Accra held a roundtable on biotechnology this month. The discussion, designed to promote candid dialogue between biotechnology supporters and sceptics, was attended by experts and campaign groups on both sides of the GM foods debate.
But one Ghanaian campaign group refused the invitation. "Our call for a moratorium on GM foods was met with an invitation to a closed-door discussion," said Duke Tagoe, of Food Sovereignty Ghana, which campaigns for greater transparency about GM foods. "We are deeply worried about what seems like an imposition of genetically modified foods on the good people of Ghana without any meaningful public discourse, compounded by attempts to stifle any opposition."
Food Sovereignty Ghana and other domestic organisations accuse the US and other foreign donors of promoting GM foods to west African countries, and tying aid to implementation.
According to a leaked cable, the US government was heavily involved in drafting Ghana's 2011 Biosafety Act, which provided a framework for the introduction of GM foods. The US aid department provided technical assistance and some funding.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/jul/24/gm-crops-ghana-us-genetically-modified-food
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