GMO Foods Not Bad For Us, But Should Be Labelled, NAFDAC Assures

AMID growing concerns and health scares over their consumption, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has assured Nigerians that Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) foods are safe, but need proper labelling.
Speaking during a television programme on Thursday, August 7, NAFDAC’s Director General, Mojisola Adeyeye, stated: “GMOs are genetically modified foods when it comes to food, and they are not bad for us. They are not bad for us, depending on what type of foods they are and whether the safety considerations have been taken.”
She, however, stressed the need for proper labelling of GMO foods by marketers for the consuming public.
Asked what Nigerians can do to ensure the food they consume is healthy for them, Adeyeye, a pharmacist and professor, said: “I’m a food freak. I want to know what I’m eating is going to give me a good health outcome.
“I look at the label. I want to be sure that NAFDAC’s label is on it, or if I’m outside the country, well, I don’t do a lot of shopping now, but before my time in NAFDAC, when I had all the time, I would look at the label. And it’s supposed to have ‘genetically modified food’ written on it.
“We work in collaboration with the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), which is the agency charged with ensuring the safety of foods that have GMOs. We have an MoU with them. They are mandated to ensure that the foods that have GMOs are of quality, safe and efficacious.
“So, when you look at the food on the table in the market, especially grocery stores, you will see foods labeled organic. You put labels (on foods) that are not organic, and people have the choice to buy which one they want.”
Adeyeye said while NAFDAC has a role to play in the monitoring and certification of food items consumed in the country, other agencies at the state level have a part to play in such issue, adding: “But for NAFDAC, we are mandated to ensure that the food that we approve for the market is safe, is of quality, of course, and it is efficacious.
“That is the reason why the collaboration between us and the NBMA is very solid. Without them certifying that they have done their due diligence in their laboratory for desk review or whatever, we cannot approve.”
Recall that the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA), last month, allayed fears over the safety of GMO foods, when its Director General, Abdullahi Mustapha, told members of the House of Representatives Press Corps that GMO crops are key to tackling the country’s food challenges and boosting agricultural productivity, among others, in Nigeria.
He told participants at a sensitisation workshop in Abuja: “In today’s digital age, the distortion of facts has become a major barrier to the acceptance of science.
“False claims about GMOs have contributed to public skepticism and slowed down the adoption of technologies that can transform lives.”