BY ETTA MICHAEL BISONG, ABUJA – The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba, has given importers of Genetically Modified Seeds (GMS) a 7-day ultimatum to formalise their dealings or risk being shut down.
The Agency’s helmsman, who gave the warning during a press briefing held in Abuja, revealed that there is a current influx of illegal GM products into the country.
Consequently, he advised all the key actors who are directly engaged in the importation of these seeds to first obtain the required Biosafety permit from the agency before embarking on such venture.
And, this is because the permit, according to him enables the agency to properly carry out risk assessments on these products before their release into the market.
The chief regulator threatened that his agency would not hesitate to prosecute anyone found culprit in the illegal trading of these products across the nation.
While recollecting the mandate establishing the Agency, which is to oversee the practice of biotechnology and ensure that their products are safe, Dr. Ebegba assured that no GM product will be allowed into the country without passing through the necessary scrutiny of safety analyses and risk assessments.
He recalled a meeting where various potential importers were enlightened on the various trade procedures, insisting that not even products currently under confined field trials are going to be allowed into the market without certifying them safe to both environmental as well as human health.
