by Ken Opala and Tom Mosoba
Kenya’s
decision to allow importation of GM foods has created a ripple across the East
African region. According to sources, Tanzania
and Uganda may
be forced to fast-track their GM trials and bio-safety legislations in a bid to
catch up with Kenya,
which now seeks to allow in GM maize to deal with famine.
Kenya’s
move, endorsed by the Cabinet in August with importation guidelines and
regulations published a month later, could spell a cross-border flow of GMOs,
due to poor administration of the region’s national boundaries.
“We will have the chance to review our neighbours
(biosafety) framework,” says Dr Andrew Kiggundu, head of biotechnology at the
National Agricultural Research Laboratories in Kampala.
“I would like to see Uganda
develop its own (mechanism) quicker than ever.
Tanzania’s
Ministry of Agriculture has already submitted a formal request to the
government to revise the law to allow more research in the area of GMOs.
However, anti-GMO activists are worried.
“It is very
unfortunate Kenya
has done this. This is likely to energize those who advocate for GMOs in Tanzania,”
said Loyce Lema, the executive director of Envirocare. “We do not oppose
biotechnology in its entirety as it is useful in other ways, such as medical
research.’’
“Our biotechnology
sector is not as vibrant as that of our neighbours. The number and impact of
research institutes is minimal and the gap of knowledge on biotechnology is so
huge in Tanzania,”
said Alois Kullaya of the the Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute. “Our
ability to control GMO from entering the country is almost non-existent.”
Ugandan scientists and policymakers have applied pressure on
the government to pass the Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill which has stayed at
drafting stage for the past eight years. A lobby group, Uganda Biotechnology
and Biosafety Consortium, was formed last month to fast-track biotechnology in
improving livelihoods. The absence of the law has hindered the adoption of
GMOs, the group says.
Yet, despite the intransigence over GM technology, there is
a general belief that the region has been consuming GMOs anyway.
“If we are importing
maize from South Africa,
a country 70 per cent of whose maize is
GM, one cannot doubt the possibility bearing in mind that South African
government has no policy of isolating GM maize from organic ones,” Dr Kullaya
says.
Kenya
has been consuming on GMOs, either directly as maize or through pharmaceutical
products. In July 2008, authorities announced they were to import one million
bags of maize from Zambia,
a country that relies on food imports from South
Africa. In June, about 270,000 tonnes of
maize were imported from COMESA group of countries. The maize largely came from
South Africa,
according to the Johannesburg-based African Centre for Biosafety.
Kenya’s
food imports bill from South Africa
was $55 million in 2008, which went up to $236 million last year. South African
maize imports are quite cheap despite the 50 per cent tariff they are charged.
Some of the East African Community’s pharmaceutical products
are manufactured from GMOs, and are imports from countries that already grow
GMOs on a commercial basis, among them South Africa, the US, and Brazil.
Insulin used to treat diabetes, for instance, is mostly
manufactured from GMOs. Other products include additives, enzymes, flavours and
vitamins.
“It is a reality. Not only the food we eat, even the clothes
(cotton) we wear are made out of GMOs,” said Jumanne Maghembe, Minister for
Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives.
