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| Kenya approves Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) bill |
| 9 December 2008 |
| Dr Wynand J van der Walt, FoodNCropBio |
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Kenya has gone through a rigorous process over several years of public and parliamentary debates, and
amendments, before finally approving the Biosafety Bill that will regulate research, development,
adoption, and trade in genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The Bill was approved by an
overwhelming majority in parliament on 9 December 2008 and is expected to be shortly signed into law
by the president.
The Bill flows from the National Biotechnology Development Policy of 2006 that has aimed to create an
enabling regulatory environment for research, development and production of products derived through
modern biotechnology that covers plant and animal production, vaccines, diagnostics, and human health
applications. The guidelines drafted by the National Council for Science and Technology in 1998, under
the Science and Technology Act of 1980 had served as interim framework under which genetic
modification research was conducted on GM cassava, maize, cotton, and sweet potatoes in confined
facilities, as well as diagnostic kits for animal disease detection and vaccine development. In fact, Kenya
has been conducting contained trials at research stations on Bt insect resistant cotton and Bt maize for
some four years, and, recently, greenhouse trials with GM streak virus resistant maize. An application
has been submitted for clinical animal trials with a novel, home-grown GM vaccine against Rift Valley
Fever, a devastating livestock disease in East Africa.
The law not only will serve to provide a functional biosafety framework but is also a requirement under
the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to manage transboundary movement of Living Modified Organisms
including seeds and grain. |
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