Genetically Modified Organisms and Genetic Engineering are issues all around the world now. In my home country Germany they are discussed a lot currently, due to the upcoming Transatlantic Trading and Investment Partnership (TTIP). A lot of European NGOs and media critizise that this free trade agreement will weaken national bans and activism against GMOs and also enable corporations like Monsanto and Syngenta to refute national laws against their products.

But not only Europe and America have issues when it comes to dealing with Genetic Engineering. Also, and perhaps especially, "developing countries" currently struggle with how to deal with these issues.
A good example for that is my current country of residence: Ghana.
Ghana is one of the few African countries that have allowed the sale of GMOs, however now the government had to put a stop to it.

How did it come to this?

A local civil society group called Food Sovereignty Ghana has filed a lawsuit against the government to stop the sale of GMOs (especially modified rice and beans). One of their main concerns is the competitiveness of local farmers, but also the awareness of Ghanaian citizens. Both of them are endangered by the (often unlabelled) distribution of genetically modified products.
This ban is only temporary, so we can only wish for NGOs everywhere in the world like Food Sovereignty Ghana to keep up their good work to pressure governments and ensure that their citizens truly get what they want.

For further reading, please go to: http://foodsovereigntyghana.org/

- Sarah