CENTRE FOR CONSCIENCIST STUDIES AND ANALYSES (CENCSA)

Final-minority-report-glyphosate-spinning-science-silencing-scientists-1

This is a scandal of outrageous proportions! After many years of protests and campaigning, Dr Vandana Shiva, Gilles Seralini, AFSA and its affiliate in Africa and the world over are vindicated. This report about the coercion and victimisation of scientists and members of the high ranking staff of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) by Agrochemical industry is shocking, frightening and disgusting.

Between the 13th and 16th of March 2016, Mr Yaw Opoku drew attention to two scientists from the CSIR in Ghana that granted interviews to the Ghanaian Times in which they revealed that “The invasion of green snakes in Essienimpong, Kwaaso, and Piase towns near Ejisu in the Ashanti Region could be associated to the increasing use of glyphosate as herbicide in some of the farming communities.”

More than 300 of the green snakes were killed in 7 houses at Essienimpong, alone. That incidence revealed the destructive nature of glyphosate in the Roundup product of Monsanto widely used by farmers in Ghana.

Dr Vandana Shiva has spoken relentlessly about agrochemicals and how glyphosate, in particular, used widely by big farms in Europe and across the world, destroys the sanity of the environment by polluting water, the soil and other organisms found therein. She raised this issue substantially when she visited Ghana.

Like Gilles Seralini whose study found that rats fed glyphosate-tolerant corn risked developing tumours, Dr Shiva became a subject of abuse by ghostwriters whom we now know were scientists working for Monsanto. Shame!

“Ghostwriting articles on glyphosate was a concerted effort by the company. Monsanto scientists wanted to both steer the scientific studies away from identifying potential adverse human health effects from exposure to glyphosate and they wanted other “independent” scientists listed on these studies to provide the aura of objectivity and independence. Monsanto did this on several occasions”, the report obtained from on-going litigation documents with Monsanto reveals.

We must demand that the IARC of the World Health Organisation (WHO) properly tag or describe glyphosate as carcinogenic to humans and NOT “probably carcinogenic to humans”.

All campaigners and pressure groups across Africa resisting the forced introduction of Roundup and all other glyphosate laced products are encouraged to hold press conferences on this report and personally submit copies of them to the Ministry of Agriculture of our respective countries. After that, we must get the media to get policymakers and scientists to speak to this report.

We could make a huge impact in Ghana if like-minded NGOs and small farmer’s groups, like the PFAG, could talk to the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) of Ghana to issue a joint statement on this report.

This is another chance for ACTION.

15.02.2018, 14:19, “Yaw Opoku”