The Federal Government, through its National Biosafety Management Agency, has issued a seven-day ultimatum to retail store giants, Shoprite and Next Cash ‘N’ Carry to withdraw any product that contains Genetically Modified Organisms from their shelves or risk a total shutdown.
The warning was handed out to representatives
of the two superstores at a briefing in Abuja on Friday.
The Director-General, NBMA, Dr. Rufus Ebegba,
said the agency had received complaints from members of the public about the
sale of GMO foods in the two stores.
He stated, “Recently, we carried out a survey
of likely GMO products and we have been able to have some collections, some materials
that we call GMO suspects. We call them GMO suspects because we have not been
able to ascertain their status.
“Why we have invited the superstores basically
is for them to understand that some of their products need to be properly
ascertained before they are brought in, especially the imported ones that may
contain genetically modified materials, so that they will not run afoul of the
law.
“There is a law in place. We will not want any
segment of the society out of ignorance to act in manners that will infringe on
the law. The Biosafety Management Act empowers the NBMA to regulate the
activities of modern biotechnology and the use of genetically modified
organisms.”
According to him, the agency will not hesitate
to shut down any of the stores found selling unregistered GMO products in the
country.
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