Francis Nang’ayo, PhD Regulatory Affairs Manager African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF)

Genetically Modified Organisms: Environmental, Public Health and Socio-economic Concerns 22 March 2012 Francis Nang’ayo, PhD Regulatory Affairs Manager African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) P.O. Box 30709 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya

GM Debate GM debate is ubiquitous; transcends science, economics, politics, ethics, etc … nearly everywhere, people grow, process, consume, reject or even just talk about GM technology! ‘Terminator Technology’ Dominance By MNCs Threat to NTOs Biodiversity ‘monarch Butterfly’ Gene flow (organic agric) Gene flow HGT ‘antibiotic Resistance’ GM foods (toxic!) GM foods and Allergies Information Sharing F A C T S & M Y T H S

Concerns • Environmental concerns • Food/feed safety concerns • Socio-economic considerations

Environmental Safety Concerns • Potential impact of GM technology on non-target organisms • Concerns about geneflow and associated consequences • Concerns about other eco-toxicological effects of GM technology

Non-target organisms • These are organisms in the environment that are not the primary target of technological intervention • Often comprise such species as pollinators, biological control agents, decomposersetc that play a crucial role in maintaining environmental integrity • cf Deployment of Bt maize/cotton was sanctioned after demonstration of no significant risks to bees, biocontrol agents etc

Monarch Butterflies Loseyet al. 1999 Sears et al. 2001

Geneflow or gene escape • Geneflow(through pollen transfer, seed or HGT) is a contentious issue in the deployment of GM products; why? • Concerns about emergence of super bugs possibly via HGT (anti-biotic resistance) • Chances are negligibly small: 10−17 • Concerns about emergence of weedy invasive species (e.g. Mathenge) • Concerns about genetic ‘contamination’ that would for instance affect ‘organic farming’ • These are legitimate concerns that cannot be wished away**

Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms ….

Eco-toxicological effects • Wide-ranging concerns on ecosystem (biological diversity, soil and water resources) • Regulators demand that potential of GMOs are elaborately documented and risk assessment conducted b4 general release is sanctioned

Food/Feed Safety Concerns Underlying Principles • The safety assessment strategy for GM crops and products used as food/feed is based on a comparison of the properties of the GM crop and non-GM traditionally cultivated counterparts • Concepts of Familiarity and Substantial Equivalence

Food/Feed safety Concerns - Toxicity • Toxicity – level of native toxicants if present must fall within the range known for varieties of the species used as food • GM technology need not intentionally or inadvertently increase toxicity levels of GM crops or products • Regulations call for toxicological assessment (typically carried via chemical analyses [GLP labs] and also through bioassays (animal feeding studies)

Food/Feed Safety Concerns - Allergencity • Allergy is an adverse reaction (hypersensitivity) which is immune-mediated. • GM technology need not raise the propensity for allergencity in GM crops or products • Assessment of allergencity is carried through bioinformatics (aa sequence homology) and also through bioassays (protein digestibility, skin prick tests, etc )

Socio-economic Considerations • GM products and trade implications • Potential loss of market destinations …studies on the trade and economic implications of adopting GM crops in developing countries show that in many cases, the presumed commercial risks are absent or limited, and any export loss would be much smaller than the gains of adopting potentially productivity-enhancing GM crop technologies (ASARECA, 2006)

Socio-economic Considerations… • Dominance by MNCs! • GM technology and food and nutrition security • High yielding crops • Biofortified crops • GM technology and organic agriculture

Conclusions • GM crops and their products are regulated articles that are rigorously evaluated for safety before consideration for their general release is made • Hence, they are not expected to pose adverse effects to the environment including human health • However, the raging debate on safety of GMOs although welcome, is often taken out of context with myths and falsehoods taking the place of facts

Francis Nang’ayo, PhD Regulatory Affairs Manager African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF)