Kenya members support bill on GMO good
Check Biotech
By Owino Opondo
October 04, 2007
NAIROBI - Genetically modified foods could soon become part of Kenya's national menu, if President Kibaki enacts a Bill whose debate Parliament began yesterday. Locally grown bananas. GM foods could soon be part of our menu if the bill in Parliament becomes law.
The proposed law provides for legal and scientific infrastructures to regulate modification of genetic organisms and to enable the country to reap from the benefits of biotechnology.
MPs who spoke during debate on the Biosafety Bill were united in celebrating the economic benefits of science.
It was time, they said, the Government borrowed a leaf from South Africa and Burkina Faso, which are among Third World countries that are reaping from biotechnology and the scramble for seeds.
Describing the Bill as a piece of legislation whose time had come, the MPs poured cold water on some civil society organisations they claimed were hell-bent on discouraging legalisation and consumption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), even at a time when the country was spending billions of shillings to import food.
Initiating debate on the Bill on Tuesday, Science and Technology minister Noah Wekesa said modification of genetic organisms and products urgently required a legal regime within which to operate.MPs heard that Kenya needed to pass the Biosafety Bill to domesticate the provisions of the Cartagena Protocol, to which the country is a signatory. The Bill was seconded by Kaiti member Gideon Ndambuki (Kanu).
The Bill seeks to facilitate responsible research into, and minimise the risks of harm that may be posed by GMOs. It also aims at ensuring adequate level of protection for the safe transfer, handling and use of the organisms.
Among other things, the Bill proposes the establishment of the National Biosafety Authority to supervise GMO research and provide regulations to ward off profiteering at the expense of human lives.
Source: Check Biotech
