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Help Kenyans safeguard against GMOs

Today we are asking you to help our allies in Kenya. Corporate-sponsored forces are fighting to open the legislative floodgates there for genetically modified organisms.

William Ruto, Kenyan Minister for Agriculture, is a strong supporter of the Biosafety Bill 2008, which does not establish adequate safety provisions or regulatory authority to manage the potential risks of GMOs to the environment and human health, or protect against gene pollution of other crops and plants.

The Kenya Biodiversity Coalition, our allies in this fight, have proposed an alternate bill, the Biosafety & Biotechnology Bill 2008, which includes necessary safeguards. Please ask Minister Ruto to support this alternate bill.

February 09, 2010

Subject:

Dear Minister Ruto,

On behalf of the Kenya Biodiversity Coalition, I ask you to support the Kenyan Biodiversity and Biotechnology Bill 2008, which safeguards against potentially negative GMO impacts on the environment and human health, and gene pollution of other crops and plants. I also urge you to consider the experience of countries like the U.S. and South Africa that have already approved GMOs.

Lax regulation and a bias towards approving new GMOs without adequate consideration of the risks have not served U.S. and South African farmers, consumers, or the environment well.  The most recent example of the failure of the U.S. regulatory system was the widespread contamination of the U.S. and world rice supply with an unapproved genetically modified variety and the consequent failure by the government to take any enforcement action against the company responsible.

The contamination disrupted sales and planting for rice farmers throughout the U.S. and caused a loss of U.S. rice export markets worth one billion dollars.  Kenya has an opportunity not to repeat the same mistakes made by the U.S. and South Africa when it comes to regulating this technology.

Please consider the Biodiversity and Biotechnology Bill 2008.

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