A recent cabinet decision in Kenya to legalize the importation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has sparked a heated debate in Parliament over the safety of the genetically engineered organisms.
In mid-July, the Cabinet approved a bill allowing the importation of GMO corn with the stated intention of increasing food security and alleviating the ongoing food shortages the country has experienced for the past several years. However, Legislators Joshua Kutuny, John Pesa and Charles Keter are claiming that the bill merely uses hunger and food security to force GMO corn into a country which has historically resisted GMOs in all forms, like many other countries in the world. Mr Keter questioned the intentions of those who support the law, while Mr. Kutuny even went so far as to raise concerns that the government was complicit in the current food shortage, and Mr. Pesa suggested alternatives to GMOs, such as new technology, and farm subsidies.
Environmental lawyer Benson Ochieng’ told sources that GMOs raise a lot of thorny legal issues. Mr. Ocheing’ stated, “You cannot vouch for the safety and health of (genetic modification), and the precautionary principle basically states that we would rather err that this thing was wrong if it wasn’t wrong [sic] than be sorry that we thought it is right but then it is not right” He added that the result of allowing GMOs might be dependency on specific agricultural companies with proprietary seeds and nutrients. “The companies that manufacture these GMOs are able to introduce certain manipulative activity within the gene so that the seed can only grow once. It creates a dependency that farmers have to keep going back to the same companies to buy the seeds year in year out,” he said. He is not alone in his concerns about genetically modified crops, many of which are already in use in Africa, often as part of U.S.-backed aid programs. Farmers claim that the hardship placed on them by GMOs is immense, because of many of the strains can not be replanted, and all seeds are technically the property of the company that made them.
The managing director of Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS) Dr. James Onsando, however, has dismissed the health and environmental concerns. He states that the technology had been tested and it was safe, but one of the larger concerns is for the environment, and evolution as a whole. However, Dr. Osando dismisses this as well, “This entire hullabaloo is misinformation. It is propaganda and instilling fear in people with no scientific backup and I am speaking as a scientist who has capacity to understand the development of GMO and clearly there is no scientific merit.” The KEPHIS director went on to say, “A lot of bio safety research is done before its approval to make sure it does not cause harm to humans or cause allergies.” He said that because GMOs were only 1 percent altered, they were safe. Kenyans will soon find out if that’s a percentage they can live with.
© 2011 International Living News.
