On the first of July Kenya became the fourth African country to allow imports of genetically modified organisms, joining the ranks of South Africa, Egypt and Burkina Faso. This decision made by the cabinet in an attempt to try and fix the deficit in mainly maize products in the country has come under a lot of criticism from different angles. Green peace Africa which is a global environmental advocacy group termed the decision by the Kenyan government to approve the imports of GMOs as “short sighted as well as irresponsible “Greenpeace Africa campaign director Olivia Langhoff while speaking to a local daily added that the government should look into other avenues for sustainable food production.

According to most of those opposing the introduction of GMO imports in the country the main concern is the contamination of seeds. The government on the other hand says it will only allow importers to bring in to the country genetically modified maize solely for milling purposes and have warned of huge fines on any lapse in this .Whether the hefty 20 million shilling fine will completely deter unscrupulous individuals from sneaking the GMO seeds into the country will be something we shall have to wait and see.

While the government’s intention in trying to control contamination of indigenous seeds by the genetically modified seeds, is justifiable segregation of seeds will be impossible. Large agribusiness organizations such as the US based Monsanto acknowledge that contamination is inevitable. Apart from the inadvertent mixing of GMO and non-GMO seeds spreading of GMOS through pollen will be almost impossible to control. After all so far GMOS have not been directly linked to any of the environmental as well as human health disasters that the GMOs are tagged with. It is either we completely adopt GMOS completely or reject them in totality; sitting around the fence on this issue is completely out of question.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7426054.stm
http://peakoil.com/enviroment/contamination-the-totalitarian-strategy-of-the-gmo-crop-industry/
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Greenpeace+faults+Kenya+on+GMO+maize+imports/-/1056/1197080/-/11tbc4d/-/index.html
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Stern+warning+to+GMO+importers++/-/1056/1195288/-/hm81mc/-/index.html