Rwanda begins process of legalizing GMO crops

Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) has drafted a law governing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Rwanda which will soon be forwarded to the Rwanda Law Reform Commission for review.

The draft bill was prepared along with the National Biosafety Framework, biosafety policy and regulations according to officials.

The objective of the legislation is to ensure an adequate level of protection in the field of the safe transfer, handling, and use of GMOs resulting from modern biotechnology that may have an adverse effect on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.

The draft law also takes into account risks to human health, to provide a transparent and predictable process for review and decision-making on such genetically modified organisms and related activities, and to implement the Cartagena Protocol to which Rwanda is a signatory party.

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[Emmanuel Kabera of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety] said that the draft legislation, the policy, the national biosafety framework and regulations consider various aspects of GMOs application, including placing on the market food or feed products, environmental release, contained use, emergency cases, among other things.

In Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Sudan, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and South Africa have biosafety laws in place, he said.

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