An environmentalist, Nnimmo Bassey, has faulted the claim by promoters of Genetically-Modified Organism (GMO) that GMO crops produce more than non-modified ones.
Bassey who is the executive director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), spoke in Benin at a festival organised by HOMEF to celebrate Nigeria’s foods, cultural diversity, and biodiversity.
He described GMO as a plant, animal or microbe in which one or more changes had been made to the genome, typically using high-tech genetic engineering.
Bassey, who expressed concern over the push for GMO foods into Nigeria, insisted HOMEF was opposed to GMO foods in the country.
He said: “GMOs do not produce more than conventional or non-modified crops. GMOs are not as healthy as they are not natural.
“We will continue our campaign against GMO, because those who are promoting it are all concerned about money, and the profit.
“A festival of this nature is an avenue to display our culture, through our food. Our foods are being threatened…”
Chairman of Local Organising Committee Joyce Brown, HOMEF’s Programme director, in her welcome address, said the event was aimed at celebrating the diversity of Nigeria’s foods.
Brown called on governments to halt decisions that could threaten local foods.
