Give GMOs good name, media urged

Sat, 10 Jun 2017 09:46:09 +0000

By PRISCA LUMINGU-BANDA, Lilongwe, Malawi

LACK of communication between the media and the public has contributed to the continued controversy on the use of Genetic Modified Organisms (GMO) technologies among COMESA member states.

Alliance for Commodity Trade for Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA) biotechnology advisor Dr. Getachew Belay said that there had been controversy on the GMOs since inception among COMESA member states because of lack of clear dissemination of information from the media to the public and policy-makers.

Speaking during the official opening of the three-day communication training workshop for media practitioners on biotechnology and biosafety in Lilongwe, Malawi, he said it was important that the media started packaging factual and balanced information on biotechnology.

‘‘ As you all know, the GMOs (technology) has been controversial since its introduction; the debates are often polarised and emotive and as a result negative and incorrect reporting which influences technology adoption has been common because of lack of proper communication with the media and the way they package the information,’’ he said.

Dr Belay said the media played a key role in shaping the public opinion and politicians on the effectiveness of using biotechnologies. He hoped that the media practitioners would help COMESA raise awareness to the public and decision-makers so that they could have a clear understanding on biotechnology and biosafety as the technologies had proved to work in other countries.

The main objective of the training workshop was to improve media coverage of biotechnology and biosafety issues in the COMESA region.

And Malawi Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development principal secretary Albert Changaya said incorrect reporting about biotechnology had contributed to the delay by governments to act on GMO crops.

Dr Changaya also urged the journalists to convey right messages to the public as the media had a critical role to reach out to the public.

‘’There is a lot of work to talk about GMOs; incorrect reporting by the media has led to inconsistencies by technology and research policy actions such as delay by countries that are in need of technologies,’’ he said.

Dr Changaya said the media had a responsibility to ensure that the correct information disseminated by the researchers was reported accurately.

He however also urged researchers to ensure that the message conveyed was accurate in order for governments to make good informed policy decisions.