Ouagadougou: The National Biosafety Agency (ANB) organized a workshop to popularize the regional regulation ‘C/REG.04/09/2020’ relating to the prevention of biotechnological risks in the ECOWAS region -UEMOA-CILSS, Wednesday August 14, 2024 in Bobo-Dioulasso. The participants of this workshop are national actors involved in biosecurity issues.
The National Biosafety Agency (ANB) wishes to raise awareness of the regional regulation ‘C/REG.04/09/2020’ relating to the prevention of biotechnological risks in the ECOWAS-UEMOA-CILSS area.
It is in this context that it organized, on Wednesday August 14, 2024 in Bobo-Dioulasso, a workshop to popularize the said regulation for the benefit of national actors involved in biotechnology issues.
These actors come from different ministerial sectors, civil society, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and biotechnology experts.
During this day, two communications were presented to the participants: a brief presentation of the ANB and a communication on the regulation in
question.
For the Director General (DG) of the ANB, Dr Koussao Somé, this regional regulation is important because it fills the inadequacies of the national law passed in 2012.
According to Dr Somé, the regional regulation better addresses the issue of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) compared to national law.
He also added that this regulation makes it possible to resolve possible cross-border problems between neighboring countries in the space.
‘When you can work in the same space with the same regulations, it’s more interesting,’ said the CEO of the ANB.
The regulation not only makes it possible to regulate GMOs and products derived from GMOs, but also to take into account the biorisks that may arise.
An innovation allowed by the regional regulation, according to Dr Somé, is the recruitment of members of scientific committees.
In fact, it is now possible to recruit specialists in the field to carry out this work, which was not provided for in national law.
The opening ceremony of the workshop
was chaired by the governor of Hauts-Bassins, represented by his technical advisor in charge of public liberties, conflict prevention and management, Souleymane Drabo.
For Mr. Drabo, it is because of the impacts that GMOs can have on the social, economic and sustainable development of the West African region that the ECOWAS Council of Ministers in charge of biosecurity adopted on September 5 2020 in Niamey, Niger, regulation ‘C/REG.04/09/2020’ which entered into force on September 23, 2023.
François Tani, president of a CSO, the National Federation of Biotechnological Farmers, declared that this workshop allows active participation of the population, especially at a time when they are sensitive to the issue of GMOs.
It should be noted that this popularization workshop benefited from the financial support of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).
Source : Burkina Information Agency