A Ghanaian civil society group has won a High Court ruling temporarily halting the commercialisation of genetically modified (GM) cowpeas and rice in the West African country. In February, agricultural advocacy group Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG) filed a case against the country’s National Biosafety Committee (NBC) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), arguing that these institutions failed to comply with the provisions of the main Biosafety Act and are not authorised to commercialise such products. “Our case is very simple. According to Section 13 of the Biosafety Act, 2011, Act 831…only the National Biosafety Authority has such a power to authorise the commercial release of GM foods in Ghana”, the group said in an earlier statement. The court in its ruling on Tuesday upheld Food Sovereignty Ghana’s position that such a Biosafety Authority described by law did not exist. The introduction of the Biosafety Act in 2011 repealed a law from 2007 which set up the Biosafety Committee. “We are not only calling for an injunction on the commercialisation of GM rice and Bt cowpeas, but on all GM crops until the National Biosafety Authority is in place”, the group underlined. After two years of pointing this out, the board of the National Biosafety Authority was inaugurated on the 17th of February, the day of the first hearing in court. Since a request for an interlocutory injunction had already been applied for by the plaintiffs, the judge ruled that there would be a halt on any further commercialisation and development of GMOs until the case is concluded. Field trials of genetically modified rice and cowpeas in Ghana’s southern Ashanti province, and of cotton in three northern provinces, are currently underway: Confined trials with GM rice started in April 2013 at Nobewam in the Ashanti region, after receiving approval from the National Biosafety Committee. In December 2014, Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) announced the successful development of a genetically modified Bt cowpea. Food Sovereignty Ghana is campaigning to help create mass awareness about the political, economic, health and environmental impacts of GM crops and defends the right of the people to define their own food and agricultural systems. (ab)