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Zambia’s Parliament Approves Biosafety Bill
Applauds the Zambian parliament for approving a biosafety bill.
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April 22, 2007 (FPRC) -- The Zambian parliament has approved a bill to regulate genetically modified organisms (GMOs), a signal that the country is on the path to formally incorporating modern agricultural biotechnology into its national development plan.
The biosafety bill, drafted by the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Science and Technology, will, among other things, establish a National Biosafety Authority (NBA), promote public awareness of biosafety, and provide mechanism for liability and redress for any harm or damage caused to human and animal health by GMO.
The bill will allow for the domestication of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, to which Zambia is a signatory. Cartagena Protocol aims to provide protection in the transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms resulting from biotechnology.
“This is good news as Zambia, now, stands to gain from modern agricultural biotechnology,” notes James Wachai, the author of GMO Africa Blog, which provides news and commentaries about advances in agricultural biotechnology in developing countries.
Mr. Wachai advises Zambian politicians, who, in the past, have expressed pessimism about the safety of genetically modified foods to human health and the environment, to use the new biosafety law to lure biotechnology investors into the country.
“Biosafety laws’ main thrust should be to boost biotechnology investments, both in the health and agricultural sectors,” he observes, adding, “With the right political goodwill, a country like Zambia stands to gain immensely from agricultural biotechnology.”
Zambia joins countries like Kenya, South Africa and Uganda that have already enacted a policy framework to regulate genetically modified organisms.
To read more about Zambia’s biosafety law, go to www.gmoafrica.org.
Send an email to James Njoroge of GMO Africa Blog
206 257 0035
Keywords:
biotechnology, biosafety
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