Biotech Updates

Francophone West Africa Biotech Report

December 18, 2009

With significant progress made in biotech development in Burkina Faso and other initiatives, more governments in West Africa are taking interest in developing biosafety regulations and participating in regional policy harmonization projects and biotech capacity building programs. Mali, Togo and Senegal join Burkina Faso as Francophone countries with approved biosafety legislation at the national level. However, the overall pace for approval of biosafety regulatory frameworks remains to be slow. The lack of implementing regulations limit the level of research using agricultural biotechnology applications.

The Francophone West Africa Biotechnology Report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service is available at http://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/AGRICULTURAL%20BIOTECHNOLOGY%20ANNUAL_Dakar_Senegal_11-2-2009.pdf