Juma: Adopting Biotech will Raise Africa's Development to the Next Level

Prof. Calestous Juma, one of Africa's leading academics, has called on African leaders to embrace science and technology in order to move to the next level of development. He made this call during a public lecture in Nairobi, Kenya on August 14, 2012 noting how African economies can further develop by adopting scientific innovations like biotechnology.

Juma presented current scientific research evidence indicating that various countries' economies have benefited after adoption of biotech crops. Even the European Union seems to be relaxing its strict stance on biotechnology after various studies it commissioned to study the possibility of negative effects of biotech crops on human health and the environment found that the crops did not have any negative effects. "Biotech crops or GM crops basically have the same risk profile as conventional crops. In fact, evidence is emerging to show that biotech crops are actually having positive unintended consequences on the environment," he said.

Regarding the regulation requirements for GM foods, Juma noted that some of the regulations currently being enforced across the continent are politically driven and their suitability has not been carefully considered. "It's about time Africa cuts out the rhetoric and look at solid scientific evidence which actually show the benefits of adopting crop biotechnology. We should move on because science has already proven that GM crops aren't harmful to either human beings or the environment," said the Professor as he summed up his presentation.

Listen to the lecture by Professor Juma at http://www.youtube.com/user/AfriCenter/videos. Contact jodhong@isaaa.org for further details.