The Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST) on Wednesday said the enactment of the Biosafety Act affirms government’s commitment to regulate the use, handling and transportation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

A MEST statement signed by Ms Sherry Ayittey, the Sector Minister, copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra explained that, in its quest to regulate the use of GMO, the Government first established a National Biosafety Committee (NBC) in 1999 to advise the Ministry on biosafety issues.

It ratified the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in 2003 and developed a National Biosafety Framework and its accompanying guidelines in 2006.

The statement said the Government passed a Legislative Instrument (L.I. 1887) to regulate research on GMOs in 2007 and finally enacted an Act in 2011 to consolidate the regulatory regime.

The Ministry said before the Bill was passed, it went through rigorous assessment and scrutiny by experts in the country, went through legislative consideration for six years before being passed by Parliament.

“Therefore, the Biosafety Law is a carefully drafted Act that meets all standards…we wish to state that all the issues raised in recent publications particularly by Mr Cameron Duodu, a columnist in a national daily are unfounded and thus misleading the public,” MEST stated.

MEST said the Act aimed at establishing a legal framework which would provide the machinery for regulating biotechnology and biosafety in Ghana.

“It is an attempt to have a clear-cut policy on regulation of biotechnology, although in the National Science and Technology Policy (2000), the use of modern biotechnology as a tool for enhanced agricultural, health, environmental and industrial productivity has been recognised,” the statement explained.

MEST noted that for administrative purposes, sections 11 to 23 of the Act dealt with the handling of requests for permits for certain activities such as contained in the use and release of living modified organisms.

Sections 31 to 34 deals with the regulatory agencies and inspection while sections 35 to 39 deals with the financial aspect of the activities of the National Biosafety Authority; the set up of which is provided for by section 3, and its functions.

The governing body, that is, the officials who will deal with the affairs of the legal entity - the Authority - is catered for by sections 4 and 5.

With the Act now in force, MEST is taking active steps to implement it, as the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission has already provided accommodation for the offices of the Authority; so that a vigorous start can be approached for the work of such an important legal set up as the Authority.

MEST emphasised that the Biosafety Act 2011 would give Ghana the requisite environment for achieving an adequate level of protection in the field of safe transfer, handling and use of GMO resulting from modern biotechnology.

It will lead to the establishment of a transparent and predicable process to review and make decision on genetically modified organisms.**