Poor nations urged to adopt laws on LMOs

Developing countries have to put in place legal and administrative frameworks to enable them to deal with the imports and exports of Living Modified Organisms (LMOs), two scientists told a conference in Nairobi recently.
Dr Patricia Traynor and Dr John Komen stressed that the poor nations of the world must address regulatory issues if they want to benefit from biotechnology.
The number of genetically modified products for commercial release is steadily rising in the industrialised countries and they are spreading to developing countries and the economies in transition, they said.

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New move to give dairy sub-sector a kick-start

The East African govern ments have undertaken policy reforms to promote the dairy sub-sector as part of the wider goal of economic growth and poverty reduction.
The governments seek to develop policies that control livestock diseases, liberalise the marketing of dairy and milk products, form and implement quality standards and conduct research into high-yielding dairy breeds.
“It is gratifying to note that countries in the region are committed to promoting a unity of purpose towards improved production and management of the milk and dairy sub-sector,” said Kenya’s then Finance Minister Christopher Obure.

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Africa still lacks ability to participate fully in biosafety debates, say experts

African countries lack the strong national capacities to effectively participate in the international debate on protocols for biosafety and technology transfer and licensing.
According to Wilfred Ongaro of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the continent lacks scientific and professional expertise for tracking and mapping global trends in biotechnology and scientific and financial support for genetically modified crop research from countries that are anti-biotech.

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