adminSifelani Tsiko Senior Writer
Experts say one of the reasons for slow adoption of biotechnology is lack of functional regulatory systems, including inability to perform timely decision-making.
African countries must strengthen the links between national biosafety regulatory authorities to enhance the continent’s capacity to manage and handle potential risks associated with genetically modified organisms (GMO) products, biotechnology experts say.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) senior biotechnology policy advisor, Dr Getachew Belay, told delegates at a two-day regional biosafety training workshop in Harare recently that strengthening linkages would help African countries manage biotechnology products given that the countries share borders across which goods and services move.
“Biosafety issues are regional in nature and environmental impacts don’t respect borders,” he said.
“Food safety issues are similar across borders with common consumption patterns and we need regional mechanisms for sharing regional expertise and infrastructure.”
He said enhanced information sharing and co-ordination on trans-boundary movement of GMOs would help to develop a fully-fledged continental biosafety system.
COMESA, through its Regional Biotechnology and Biosafety Programme, supported the National Biotechnology Authority of Zimbabwe (NBA) to organise the workshop.
Partners who supported Zimbabwe to host the regional training workshop include the African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE), Southern African Network for Biosciences (SANBio), the Department of Science and Technology, Biosafety South Africa, Public Understanding of Biotechnology (PUB) and Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF).
Dr Belay said most African countries did not have adequate financial resources to develop national biosafety regulatory systems.
He said sharing expertise was critical in building the capacity of most countries in African to manage and handle the potential risks associated with GMOs.
Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Deputy Minister Dr Godfrey Gandawa added his voice to the need for African countries to strengthen links.
“Due to the porous nature of Sadc borders, there is need for a harmonised regional policy to address a number of issues related to the dynamism of scientific and technological innovations,” he said.
“This training will go a long way in disseminating knowledge on biotechnology and biosafety through the Sadc region in order to ensure sustainability of regional trade. We expect that the deliberations from the workshop will also support both policy and decision makers in Sadc.”
Biosafety refers to the protection of human and animal health and the environment from the possible effects of biotechnology products.
Biosafety regulators say a stronger and functional biosafety system is critical for the exploitation of the potential benefits of biotechnology and ensuring safe use of genetically modified crops in Africa.
“The need to build national and regional systems for risk assessment and strengthening biosafety frameworks is one of the priorities emerging from the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD),” Dr Gandawa said. “We need to learn from each other and share good practices.”
Africa’s science and agriculture ministers have endorsed the use of biotechnology as a tool to fight hunger and food insecurity on the continent.
NBA chief executive Dr Jonathan Mufandaedza said the workshop, which has brought together leading biosafety regulators, scientists, academics, Government officials, and representatives from various partners, sought to promote the development of biosafety systems at regional and continental level.
He said the regional training workshop aimed to facilitate inter-country collaboration, resource sharing, experience-sharing and other collective efforts such as reducing policy and regulatory hurdles.
In addition, Dr Mufandaedza said, the workshop aimed to assist member states in meeting global, regional and national obligations, including having adequate regulatory preparedness to enable decision making and to deal with other biosafety challenges that may arise with the implementation of biotechnology.
“Zimbabwe stands ready to learn from experience of regional partners. With regional trade growing within the SADC and Comesa region, the NBA feels that it would be beneficial to share biosafety experiences and offer training for the countries,” he said.
“It is generally considered that the most productive approach will be in the form of a workshop where experts interact with participants and share experiences on challenges and best practices of biosafety.”
Most countries in Africa still lack the capacity for GMO sampling and detection, something which is considered critical for the effective regulation of GM products.
Biotechnology experts also say most African countries still do not have the technical capacity to be able to meet technical requirements deriving from international obligations.
They say there is need to support and strengthen GMO detection laboratories to curb the influx of undesirable GMO products and enhance the capacity of the continent to verify the GM content of food imports and exports.
Prof Diran Makinde, director of the Nepad African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE), said the absence of functional, efficient and technically competent regulatory systems is a major constraint in Africa.
“There is no coherent position among government agencies or within key government,” he said.
“We need political will to embrace the technology. We need workable biosafety laws and regulations that provide an enabling environment for appropriate regulatory decision-making.”
In the Sadc region, only South Africa has commercialised the production of GMO crops, yet there is a growing influx of GMO products in the region from South Africa and industrialised nations such as the United States, Canada, Brazil and other Western countries that often donate food aid to drought-prone parts of the region.
Given this scenario, biosafety experts say it is necessary that issues pertaining to GMO monitoring and traceability issues, GMO inspection and control, and the amelioration of emergency measures against accidental release are included in biosafety training programmes in the Africa.
Prof Makinde said biosafety systems need to help prevent, manage, minimise or eliminate hazards to human and animal health and to protect the environment from biological agents and organisms used in research and trade.
Biosafety regulators in Africa, he said, need to have a good understanding of what the risks are that could be derived from GMOs but without hindering their adoption unnecessarily.
“Governments may decide on basis of precaution not to permit a particular GMO to be imported across its borders . . . even if there is insufficient evidence about the GMO’s potential adverse effects,” said Prof Makinde.
“We need to answer the question whether risk is manageable and mitigable. Inefficient and unresponsive regulation stifles access to technology and innovation.
“When the regulatory system is cumbersome, farmers may be tempted to adopt the technology illegally.”
A total of 76 participants drawn from Burkina Faso, Malawi, Swaziland, South Africa and Zimbabwe attended the workshop.
Training covered biosafety processes, public engagement on biosafety and sharing experiences on regional regulatory and legislative systems.
Public Understanding of Biotechnology (SA) programme co-ordinator Dr Manjusha Sunil said there is need for African countries to promote a clear understanding of the potential of biotechnology and to ensure broad public awareness, dialogue and debate on its current and potential future applications.
“When facts and evidence are available to people, they are empowered to participate effectively in the policy-making process and make informed choices,” she said.
“The free flow of scientific information is impeded by political forces, or by pseudo-scientists/anti-science activists, blocking media access, and keeping the public in the dark.”
Debate on GMOs in Africa, she said, was influenced by perceptions and not based on sound knowledge of risks and benefits.
“Emotive factors generally influence the debate and little consideration is given to the science,” Dr Sunil said.
“A science-based approach for communicating effectively should improve trust and build public confidence.”
She said lack of competence, delayed response, arrogance and being defensive erodes public trust and scientists need to improve communication skills to enhance trust.
In Africa, only three countries – South Africa, Burkina Faso and Egypt – have commercialised genetically modified (GM) crops, while 19 countries have established biosafety regulatory systems, four countries are developing regulatory systems, 21 countries are a work in progress, and 10 have no National Biosafety Frameworks (NBFs).
Experts say one of the reasons for slow adoption of biotechnology is lack of functional regulatory systems, including inability to perform timely decision-making.
Other factors, they say, include the absence of national legislation, regulations, risk assessment policies or procedures and inadequate capacity for implementing functional regulatory systems.
According to the latest International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) figures, 77 percent of the world’s GM crops are grown in three countries – 40 percent in the USA, 23 percent in Brazil and 14 percent in Argentina – with plantings in Europe and Africa still at low levels.
Mr Samuel Timpo of the ABNE said African countries need to fight “technophobia” and strive to place a system that has adequate legal authority, clear safety standards and decision making procedures and that operates in a cost and time efficient manner.
With this, he said, it should be possible for Africa to promote the adoption of biotechnology products using biosafety standards developed on the continent.
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