The Kenya National Bio Safety Authority Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Roy Migiira has assured Kenyans that the country has a sufficiently robust regulatory framework that will inform the imminent introduction of Genetically Modified Organism (GMOs) food products in the country.
The CEO said that regulatory framework that is anchored in the Kenya Bio Safety Act of 2009 is vigorous enough to protect the safety on the health of humans, animals and adequate for the protection of the environment during the implementation of the GMO food production in the country after the Government lifted the ban on them.
“These laws our informed by the deliberations of a United Nations (UN) Convention on Biological Bio-diversity Conference where countries negotiated and agreed to domesticate and implement the Caterina protocol from the United Nations Conventions and Protocols on biosafety addressing the use, environmental release, import, export, transit and labelling,” Migiira said.
He was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the 11 Bio Safety Conference which started in Naivasha on Tuesday.
The CEO lauded the government move to lift the 10 year ban in importation and cultivation of (GMOs) noting that the process has been informed by science to address constraints in the production cycle including pests resistant, drought tolerant, and enhanced nutrition improvement.
Dr. Migiira said the introduction of GMO food products in the country has been marred with misinformation and his organization is in the process of rolling out a well-coordinated and structured engagement programme with all stakeholders in order to educate them on GMO food products ahead of the introduction into the country and his organization has requested for some funding from Government to carry out this camping up the grassroot level.
“We want Kenyans to know that the GMO foods are good and safe, developed by our own local scientists to address the issue of food security in the country by addressing issues of quality seeds, pests and diseases,” the CEO stated.
To this end, Migiira said the GMO food production will help reduce use of chemicals and pesticides and hence reduce the pollution of the environment. The chief researcher on the issue of GMO engineering in the country; Prof. Richard Oduor concurred that there has been a lot of misinformation on GMO technology in food, adding that GMO food components are safe and this technology only enhances the quality and the nutritional value of food.
“We eat GMO foods in most of our food stuffs every day, and a good example is in food supplements and some salads,” Prof. Oduor said adding that the GMO engineering only works by enhancing the quality of the food crop by destroying the pests and diseases and therefore increase productivity.
The researcher who the head of the Research and Innovation department at Kenyatta University also revealed that the much talked about terminator gene in GMO foods is not meant to make the farmer to be exploited by the seed company but just to ensure planting to quality seeds each planting time and this has been sanctioned by the UN. A member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, Mr. Ferdinand Kevin Wanyonyi who is also Kwanza MP said the discussions in the conference are enlightening on the emotive issue of GMO food and urged the scientists to take the information to the farmers on the ground so that they can make informed choices.
Kenya banned GM crops in 2012. The ministerial statement on the ban at the time was largely informed by a 2012 a scientific report dubbed the Séralini study that associated GMOs with cancer in rats.
But in October 2022, the new Kenya Kwanza Government lifted the decade-long ban on the cultivation and importation of genetically modified food products (GMOs).
Lifting the ban means that Kenyan farmers can now openly cultivate GM crops, as well as import food and animal feeds produced through genetic modification, such as white maize which is Kenya’s staple food and is grown in most of all Kenyan farms.
Those opposed to the lifting of the ban on GMO products allege that they pose a health risk to Kenyans, particularly the poor and those with low incomes. They also allege that the government lifted the ban without involving Kenyans through public participation as required by the Constitution.
By Mabel Keya-Shikuku
