Ghana’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and the National Biosafety Authority (NBA) have raised serious concerns over growing threats to public health and environmental safety, citing rising levels of pollution and the presence of unapproved genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the food chain.
Both agencies say their efforts are being hampered by chronic underfunding.
Addressing the media, the Chief Executive of the EPA, Professor Nana Ama Brown-Klutse, warned of a growing crisis driven by antimicrobial resistance.
According to her, pollution in water, air, and soil is contributing to bacteria and viruses developing resistance to antibiotics, posing a silent but potentially devastating health threat.
“They are in the system, they are in the air, the water we drink, and the food we eat. These bacteria are everywhere in our environment,” Prof. Brown-Klutse stated.
“We need to be prepared to protect people and the environment. That’s why the EPA is treating this as an emerging issue, and we’re stepping up awareness efforts among food vendors, water treatment agencies, and air quality monitors.”
The EPA’s warning comes as the authority transitions from an agency to an authority, with increased responsibilities but without a corresponding increase in funding.
Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Science, and Technology acknowledged the financial gap and pledged to lobby for more resources, noting “They’ve been given more responsibilities, but not the funds to execute them,” noted a member of the committee. We are committed to helping them meet their new mandate.”
At the National Biosafety Authority (NBA), another urgent concern was flagged, the proliferation of unapproved GMOs on the Ghanaian market.
NBA Chief Executive Kwame Dei Asamoah-Okyere called it a public health risk due to the absence of proper risk assessments for those products.
“There’s no way to determine the safety of these GMOs since they haven’t undergone risk evaluation, We are pushing to integrate our import-export procedures into the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS). That way, we can monitor what’s entering and exiting the country.”
Both agencies emphasized the urgent need for coordinated action, financial backing, and stricter regulation to mitigate what they describe as escalating environmental and health threats from drug resistance to food safety hazards.
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