Abstract:
This review examines the biosafety systems of selected countries in
the Eastern and Central Africa. The biosafety systems are meant to
safeguard human health, animal health and the environment against
any possible risks posed by development and application of modern
biotechnology. Though the focus is in the Eastern and Central
African region, the study gives an overview of worldwide biosafety
frameworks as guided by the Cartagena protocol on biosafety. The
Eastern and Central African countries covered in this study are
Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia and the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). An attempt is made to assess
the current status on the countries' compliance to biosafety
international conventions, institutional arrangements and
regulatory regimes. A critical look is given to the existing
biosafety frameworks, pinpointing their weaknesses and giving
suggestions on what could be done to address the shortfalls. The
study shows that Kenya is leading the group by having all the
requirements in place, followed by Uganda. Tanzania has cleared the
legal frameworks hurdles, but it is rather slow in processing
applications of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for
containment and confined trials. Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi and DRC
are still in the process of formulating their biosafety laws. The
challenges facing the operationalization of the biosafety systems
are financial constraints, insufficient trained human resources,
poor facilities, low awareness and insufficient political will by
some governments. It is argued that while biosafety frameworks
stand to safeguard safe application of modern biotechnology, they
should not have too stringent regulations, lest they impede the
development of modern biotechnology in the Eastern and Central
African region.
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