CAUTIOUS KENYA FINALLY ENACTS LONG AWAITED BIOSAFETY ACT OF

UNCLAS NAIROBI 000496 USDOC FOR BECKY ERKUL AND CASSIE PETERS STATE PLEASE PASS USTR PATRICK DEAN COLEMAN, WILLIAM JACKSON, GINA VETERE, AND JENNIFER CHOE GROVES STATE PASS USAID/EA AND GEORGIA SAMBUNARIS STATE ALSO FOR EEB/TPP/ABT JACK BOBO AND GARY CLEMENTS, AF/E, AF/RSA, AF/EPS, AND EB/TPP/IPE CARRIE LACROSSE AND JOSH HALLOCK TREASURY FOR REBECCA KLEIN AGRICULTURE FOR ANDREW RUDE AND FARAH NAIM ADDIS ABABA FOR REO KIRSTEN BAUMAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO EAGR KIPR ETRD SENV EINV ECON PGOV KE SUBJECT: CAUTIOUS KENYA FINALLY ENACTS LONG AWAITED BIOSAFETY ACT OF 2009 REFS: (A) 08 NAIROBI 2309 (B) USDA FAS GAIN REPORT KE8022 ¶1. Summary: On February 12, 2009, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki signed the long awaited and hotly disputed Biosafety Act of 2009 into law. Kenya thus becomes the fourth African country (following South Africa, Egypt, and Burkina Faso) to enact legislation establishing the legal framework to govern trade in and use of genetically modified organisms as required by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The adoption of biotechnology is viewed by proponents as a long overdue, long term strategy to address Kenya's persistent food insecurity. The Act's regulatory and enforcement provisions seek to allay the worries of skeptics, but some, including the president of the African Biological Safety Association, are already calling for amendments to the act to mitigate bio-security concerns. End summary. ¶2. Although Kenya made history in 2000 by being the first country to sign the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (ratifying the protocol in 2003),it hesitated to adopt biotechnology. Following the demise of Kenya's cotton industry and renewed fears of widespread hunger and famine, biotechnology proponents, pointing to the success of GMO agriculture in South Africa, made the case before Parliament last fall that the technology could help revive Kenyan cotton and address the country's chronic food insecurity. An inaugural "All Africa Congress on Biotechnology" on the merits of biotechnology, organized by the Nairobi-based African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum (ABSF),further galvanized local proponents (ref A). ¶3. Agriculture Minister William Ruto subsequently led the charge in Parliament for passage of a biosafety bill, which President Mwai Kibaki signed on February 12. (Note: the USAID-funded Program for Biosafety Systems created linkages among key national institutions, thus building support for the bill among policymakers and biosafety regulatory agencies. The program also provided technical regulatory support to facilitate confined field trials of genetically modified cotton and corn.) ¶4. The Biosafety Act of 2009 is to facilitate responsible research into genetically modified organisms (GMOs); ensure an adequate level of oversight and protection for the safe transfer, handling, and use of GMOs with respect to public health and the environment; and establish a transparent, science-based and predictable process for reviewing and making decisions on the transfer, handling, and use of GMOs and related activities. ¶5. In terms of scope, the Act covers the import and export of GMOs and products containing GMOs, and it stipulates how they are to be marketed, sought and sold, stored, released into the environment, and used. It specifies the legal requirements and procedures required for obtaining approval before introducing GMOs for research or commercial purposes. The Act defines what information is required from applicants, establishes a "risk assessment process," and specifies the roles of different regulatory agencies in ensuring compliance. -------------- New National Biosafety Authority -------------- ¶6. The Act establishes a "National Biosafety Authority," operating under the Ministry of Science and Technology, with a 17-member board comprised of eminent scientists, experts, permanent secretaries from key ministries, the secretary of the National Council on Science and Technology, directors of existing biosafety regulatory agencies (such as the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service-KEPHIS),and civil society representatives. Key functions of the Authority embrace overall supervision and control of the development, transfer, handling and use of genetically modified organisms for research or commercial purposes. The Authority, in carrying out its role of coordination, may consult with the following key regulatory agencies: Department of Public Health; Department of Veterinary Services; Kenya Bureau of Standards; Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services; Kenya Industrial Property Institute; Kenya Wildlife Service; Pest Control Products Board; and National Environmental Management Authority. (Note: all these agencies already operate under existing legislation which refers to GMOS.) The new law also establishes an Appeals Board to review the decisions of the National Biosafety Authority whenever significant new scientific information on the biosafety of GMOs or contained use activities emerges. ¶7. The Authority is to promote public awareness and education to enhance understanding of biosafety. The Act outlines mechanisms for obtaining and incorporating public input. Notices will be published in the Kenya Gazette to invite comments from the public on pending decisions to approve introduction of GMOs for research or commercial purposes. -------------- GMO Safeguard Measures -------------- ¶8. To ensure safe and responsible use of GMOs, the Act requires that an assessment and management of risks be first undertaken. It sets severe penalties against persons who deal in GMOs without written approval of the Authority or who fail to furnish correct information to the agency. Under Part IX, Section 52(g),those found guilty of manufacturing, exporting, importing, transporting, trading, marketing, and/or using GMOs without the approval of the Authority are subject to a fine not exceeding KSh2 million ($25,000) and/or a prison term not exceeding ten years. ¶9. Cessation orders stipulate immediate directives for terminating activities that pose an imminent danger to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking into account risks to human health. "Environmental restoration orders" set forth legal sanctions to be enforced to remedy or rehabilitate damage to the environment as a result of negligence or deviation from risk management measures. Violators of the Act are "to restore the environment as near as it may be to the state in which it was before the release of a genetically modified organism." -------------- Biosafety Inspectors' Prerogatives -------------- ¶10. Part VII of the Act provides for biosafety inspectors. It authorizes them to enter any premises, facility, vessel, or property "at all reasonable times and without a warrant" to determine whether someone is violating the Act. The inspector may conduct a search and seizure if s/he has reason to believe that a violation is taking place. The inspector has the authority to take "appropriate samples" of any organism, article, or substance which appears to contain genetically modified organisms that might pose a biosafety risk. The inspector may then require that the substance be tested but s/he has not have unrestricted discretion and authority to damage or destroy the suspect material(s). ¶11. Prior to the signing of the Biosafety Act, Kenya's national biosafety system was governed by the Science and Technology Act of 1980 that created the National Council for Science and Technology (NCST). In 1995, the NCST initiated a process of developing the national Biosafety guidelines and regulations that made a provision for the creation of a National Biosafety Committee (NBC),to serve as the technical arm of the council in overseeing coordination and implementation of Biosafety issues. ¶12. Genetically modified products that have been approved for contained and confined field trials include insect-resistant maize and cotton, tissue culture bananas, GM sweet potato, virus-resistant cassava, and rinderpest vaccine. Confined field trials of genetically-modified insect-resistant cotton and maize are already underway in Kenya. The Kenya Agricultural Research Institute intends to begin open field trials of transgenic cotton Bt in October 2009. While these products are approaching the commercialization phase, the Science and Technology Act of 1980 lacked substantive provisions to move on-going research products from research stage to commercialization. The adoption of the Biosafety Act of 2009 addresses these regulatory gaps, thus ensuring that commercial release of potentially beneficial products is done in a safe and responsible manner ¶13. Biotechnology is now seen by policymakers as a way to maximize productivity and sustainability of agriculture; protect the environment and human health; and stimulate trade and industry. Previously some were unduly concerned about the potential risks posed by the technology. Their anxieties blocked potential corn imports by requiring that imported corn not exceed a two percent adventitious presence for biotechnology-produced corn. This provision led to unnecessary corn supply constraints resulting in food deficits and artificially high corn prices. ¶14. There remain skeptics. Dr. Willy Tonui, a researcher at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and the founding president of the African Biological Safety Association (AfBSA),told a March 9 gathering of medical and laboratory professionals that the Act must be amended to "capture bio-security concerns." But for the vast majority of professionals in the field, biotechnology holds the promise of improved food security in Kenya. Ranneberger