African governments must invest in appropriate regulatory structures and monitoring mechanisms for biotech crops and animals. This is according to African scientists who attended the International Conference on GMO Analysis and New Genomic Techniques held this month in Berlin, Germany. They said that investments in laboratories would ensure proper oversight of biotech products and eventually maximize the potential of agri-biotech in the continent.

“Two things. Governments in Africa need to empower the existing institutions. In Ghana, we have the National Biosafety Authority (NBA), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and Food and Drugs Authority. So, it's either government should empower and equip them to take up such detection. Or our governments can set up new laboratories so we can work together on this,” said Dr. Francis Djankpa, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Physiology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast.

Dr. Djankpa, who is also part of the NBA technical committee, said that the public must not fear biotech products, but it is vital to have infrastructures that will monitor their use. He stressed that comprehensive documents and information are derived from developers for evaluation and prior to the approval of biotech products.

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https://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=20112