Raila, Wajakoyah cited for GMO misinformation, report reveals
A newly released report has fingered Opposition Chief Raila Odinga and 2022 presidential candidate George Wajackoyah for spreading misinformation on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).
The report dubbed GMO misinformation in the Kenyan media by the Alliance for Science shows, over a three-month period between October-January, a whopping 40 per cent of articles published on GMOs, by 14 major media outlets, contained misinformation that was not rebutted in the articles.
“The level of misinformation and downright lying on the topic is likely polarising the political debate as the government faces political and legal challenges to its recent decision to permit GMO crops to be grown and imported into Kenya,” said Alliance for Science director Sheila Ochugboju (below). He said most media stories that contained un-rebutted misinformation repeated falsehoods about GMOs made by prominent politicians. Raila, for example, made many false statements alleging negative health impacts of GMOs.
Also singled out is Wajackoyah, who the report alleges, ludicrously claimed that GMOs make men grow breasts and women grow beards.
Other bodies like Kenyan Peasants League and Food Rights Alliance also made statements about GMO health effects that have no scientific basis, and these statements were repeated by media outlets without rebuttal.
“We have not conducted this research to point fingers but to assist media in doing a better job of holding prominent persons and NGOs to account when they make unfounded claims about GMOs and other issues of scientific controversy,” said Ochugboju.
