Transgenic: Why should their Adoption and Consumption in Nigeria be taken with Cautiousness

Abstract

Genetic Engineering which involves the removal of genetic material from one organism and splicing it into the chromosomes of another is today set to revolutionize agriculture. It has given rise to a new set of organisms known as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs or Transgenic). The major advantage of GMO crops are yield increases as well as reduction in pesticide and herbicide use. Genetically Modified crops are today flourishing across the globe particularly in five leading countries namely the US, Argentina, China, Canada and Brazil. Worldwide, 181.5 million hectares were planted with GMO crops in 2014 with the US accounting for 40.28% of that average. About 5% of all canola, 13% of all corn, 31% of all cotton and 51% of soybean grown across the world today are genetically engineered. Notwithstanding their high potential caution need to be exercised in the adoption and consumption of GMO crops in Nigeria. Their health and environmental implications are yet to be subjected to long term scientific investigations. Fallouts from past scientific discoveries give credence to this call. For instance, nobody knew at the time DDT was discovered that DDT sprayed over a broad area would be bio-magnified through the food chain and concentrated hundreds of thousands of times in the human body. When CFCs were created, they were hailed as great discovery - inert compounds that were great carriers for aerosol sprays. Only when millions of tons of CFCs were liberated into air many years later was their scavenging effect on ozone in the upper atmosphere discovered. This paper therefore aims not only to highlight the benefits derivable from this new technology but also the need to exercise caution in the adoption and consumption of GM crops in Nigeria.