Africa warned against strict laws against biotech research, development

Posted on | september 4, 2012 | No Comments

Brewing was an early application of biotechnology

While realistic liability and redress provisions are necessary for responsible development and deployment of genetically modified products, African countries should however be careful about imposing strict liability provisions that undermine advancement of biotech research and development, biotechnology and biosafety experts meeting in Pretoria, South Africa have cautioned.

The preparatory meeting of delegates from 15 African countries which are signatories to Cartagena Protocol commences and organized by the AU-NEPAD Agency Africa Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE), Government of the Republic of South Africa, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Africabio, the Program for Biosafety Systems (PBS), Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI) and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) AfriCenter said all over Africa, there is a clear sense of urgency to move forward with biotechnology applications of priority to Africa as well as creating a framework where Africa can exploit the knowledge and experiences from elsewhere.

They said this is buoyed by the increasingly loud voice of African countries on issues touching on biotechnology and biosafety.

They however urged African countries to push for their own agenda to ensure alignment with their needs and ambitions.

“African countries should be conscious of the different interests of partners and should carefully select partners that are aligned with their own policy priorities,” warned the experts.

They cited the Supplementary Protocol saying it should be used as a guide for putting in place a workable and fair liability and redress framework.

They urged the African countries to follow up on the ratification/accession process and suggested that national implementation can include the use of existing liability and redress instruments or the development of new ones at the national level.

The experts advised those African countries which may require assistance in domesticating the Supplementary Protocol to seek the support from countries with capacity to do so.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com