The High court dismissal of several petitions challenging the lifting of the ban on genetically modified organisms (GMO) has opened room for scientific exploration in the biotechnological studies.
Scientists and Researchers in the field of biotechnology at various institutions of higher learning have expressed optimism that students undertaking related courses will now explore and fully exploit the potentials in science of genetically modified products.
Prof Richard Oduor the Registrar of Research at the Kenyatta University and also chairs the Kenya University Biotechnology Consortium told a student’s leaders forum that the development had a major ramifications on stakeholders as it had fully opened the floodgates of research and innovations.
“ At this point,our students in the university can go ahead and do the courses that are biotech in languages and in ways that are more free because before with the ban, they could not practice really the outcomes of the technology”, he said.
He said the lifting of the ban offered students undertaking courses in biotechnology, molecular biology, genetic engineering and biochemistry fully explore their fields of study and research after a 12 years lull when the ban was effective.
The development comes after the cabinet decision to lift the ten year the ban on GMO in 2022 attracted several litigations amid fears that such foodstuffs could be harmful to both human and animals.
Petitioners had also argued that proper public participation was not conducted to establish the views of consumers and small scale farmers who risked losing the genetic composition of indigenous seeds before the Court recently dismissed the matter ruling that the environment and lands court had in 2023 settled the issue with finality.
Prof Oduor further noted that opportunities to create other additional and newer courses was open in line with emerging trends in biotechnology something he termed as critical for the university.
“Before, our industries were struggling to get products that they would use even for leasing some of these biofortified crops or foods, because there was a ban and therefore they could not either import or source locally for purposes of biofortification , which were very critical for the university “he added.
He explained that for the universities can now deliberately ask donors for resources to undertake research now that the intended product was finally acceptable in the country.
“With all those put together including the startups that come from the innovations that we have in the university, this will go a long way in terms of creating jobs and improving the economy for majority of unemployed youth,” Prof, Oduor said
He said the Country was at liberty to import related products but was quick to caution that the freedom does not mean the gates of GMOs were just open stressing such ventures must be tamed within the confines of the regulation and policies the adhere to international convention in terms of ethics and biosafety.
He challenged fellow scientist for failing to avail themselves to talks on biotechnology or even defending some of their work whenever they were called upon asking them to use such platforms as the Kenya University Biotechnology Consortium (KUBICO) and others to push for the technologies.
“This technology is like any other, it is positive, always been safe and if the farmers will pick it , it has the potential to feed this country and beyond. What we should be discussing as a country is in terms of capacity, do we have enough seed companies that can actually feed into the value chain of the seed development which is a yes and now start on production and bulking starting next season
Erick Korir from the National Biosafety Authority assured the authority was keen to guarantee the safety of consumers the animals and environment adding that they had so far given approval to three products.
“We have BT cotton that is already with the farmers, the BT maize has received regulatory approval from the authority and awaiting the variety registration and release and we have Cassava that has also gotten approval and is undergoing the National Performance Trials (NPTs) “, he explained
For the BT Maize, Korir acknowledged the NBA had been faulted on public participation as a key challenge since the previous used public notice placed on website, in the Kenya gazette and also in two newspapers with wide circulation as well as a meeting in Nairobi.
This time around we intend to do is also do the same, but way above that, we will be going to various regions in this country to seek the public to give their comment but even before we embark on asking them we will have to carry out civic education so that we can get quality public participation responses”, Kori said .
“Before we ask the public to give us their comments, we just have to tell them what GM is, we teach them what the products are, and then we ask them what they think about the products”, Korir said .
Dr. Joel Ochieng, a Senior Research Fellow and Leader of Agricultural Biotechnology the University of Nairobi (UON) maintained the government’s decision to lift the ban on GMO is because the court was satisfied there was sufficient regulatory systems in place to assure people of the safety of people, animals and the environment .
He noted that when GMO products are commercialized and considering the production capacity of the country at the moment is still far lower than the consumption requirement which deficit runs into 2 million metric tonnes forcing the country always to import , this will address pat of the food production.
“We are now allowed to do cultivation and therefore part of food production should be BT food which has other components such as affordability, distribution mechanisms, but the primary one is production”, he added.
The BT Maize, Dr. Ochieng said has been modified using a harmless soil bacterium to enable the maize to tolerate and to fight back when the stem borers attack adding that the crop pests attack the maize and the stem borers have been responsible for the loss of more than 60% of maize production.
“When we now have BT maize in the farms, then that loss will be circumvented to a larger extent and so we’d have farmers harvesting more and because now the cost of production has been reduced ,even the prices of the commodity at the retail level will go down meaning maize will retail at a lower cost
With the direct seed production, Dr. Ochieng said they expect maize to be in the farms by April next year as we country goes into seed preparation but also assured the citizenry that GM products are prepared under very stringent regulatory regimes and once you see a product in the market then it is safe.
Kenya, he noted has the capacity, both human and infrastructural to develop, regulate and to do market surveillance for those products and for those who may not be willing to consume GM products such as maize there is a labelling regulation that requires the products to be labelled so that the consumers can choose whether they want to consume them or not
Carol Ndegwa student from University of Eldoret and who is undertaking her Masters programme pursuing plant breeding and biotechnology said that they cannot wait to see what opportunities is there for them in promoting science and also health matters.
“With the lifting of ban on GM by courts, as a student we see light at the end of the tunnel for the country where we will have lots of food produced, promoting environment conservation through reduction of using a lot of pesticides and also going on to further gene engineering and new science which is coming in synthetic biology”, she added.
Ndegwa further noted that it is important that the public should understand science once its put out there and scientists should therefore move with the masses by talking on their technologies for the to be understood considering more people tend to go with the misinformation rather than facts.
The Kenyan High Court dismissed petitions challenging the lifting of the ban on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on November 7, 2024 saying the matter had been dealt with by the environment and land courts in w2023.
The court had also heard that studies concluded that the GM food available on the international markets had undergone rigorous risk assessment and therefore unlikely to pose risk for human health compared to the conventional counterparts.
By Wangari Ndirangu
