Members of the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Act’s Executive Council
Members of the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) Board
CEOs of the Biotechnology Innovation Centres
Dr Hennie Groenewald and the Biosafety South Africa team
Director of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Centre in Hilo, Hawaii, Dr Dennis Gonsalves
Ladies and gentlemen
A few years ago, on the first of April (April fool’s day), a British supermarket chain told the public that it had developed a genetically modified carrot - one that whistled when fully cooked, rather like a kettle. Not to be outdone and in the same spirit, the BBC informed its listeners that the spaghetti crop was now being harvested in Switzerland and that this year’s spaghetti looked particularly promising.
Our country’s national biotechnology strategy was published in June 2001, almost ten years ago. By that time the United States had already established over 300 public biotechnology companies with a market capitalisation of over $350 billion. We were inspired, the more so when we saw that other developing countries, like Brazil and China, had been quick to identify the potential benefits of biotechnologies and had adopted measures to develop biotech industries and extract value from them.
We understood that biotechnology could make an important contribution to our national priorities, especially in the area of human health including HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis; food security and environmental sustainability.
We developed a strategy, acted vigorously and decisively and have come a long way in the past decade. One of the key components in our strategy was the establishment of regional innovation centres, referred to in the strategy by the acronym Regional Innovation Centre (RICs).
As you know, effective government is impossible without acronyms and when a little later, someone added the word “biotechnology” to the front of this abbreviation, we accepted it without demur. Biotechnology Regional Innovation Centres (BRICS) was born. But alas, this territory was to be closely contested. Along came a group of countries who shared a common interest. They were Brazil, Russia, India and China. Here was another rival BRICS!
To date, our government has invested over R900 million in biotechnology. Our aim is to make South Africa one of the top three emerging economies in the world in terms of the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, flavour, fragrance and biopesticide industries by 2018. We are well-positioned to succeed in this aim.
The issue that has brought us together today is biosafety - the safety factor when dealing with biotech products. The products of modern biotechnology are often living, genetically modified, organisms - or GMOs - organisms with altered traits and characteristics. These organisms can spread, multiply and integrate into our environment. South Africa is classified as one of the 14 biotech mega countries in the world, the only one in Africa. These countries, including our own, have a special responsibility to ensure that the potential impacts of genetically modified organisms on human or animal health; on the environment; together with their probable socio-economic impact, is carefully measured, assessed and estimated before they are released. Only in this way can we ensure a favourable risk-benefit ratio.
Of course, protection policies and procedures are already in place to ensure that potential risks are reduced or eliminated and that safety measures are taken when handling, transporting and using these products. In South Africa this is primarily governed by the GMO Act of 1997, as amended in 2006.
When considering biosafety with respect to genetically modified organisms, there are a number of different aspects to be explored:
Firstly there is the question of the safety of food and animal feed. In this area our concern is with a variety of food-related risks; including potentially harmful materials in foodstuffs, allergens, unwanted and undesirable interactions between food components, and questions surrounding nutritional values. Other issues include labelling, and the detection of transgenes or proteins in agricultural products.
Then there is the issue of environmental safety. Here our concern is the possible interactions and effects of transgenes and GMOs on biodiversity and the function of ecosystems; including the target and non-target effects and ecological interactions. There is also the question of possible transgene movement - into landraces; into wild relatives and non-GM counterparts; via gene flow and the potential ecological effects. In all cases, there is always an implication of possible changes in agricultural practices.
Last but not least, there are socio-economic considerations. Clearly, the impact of genetically modified organisms goes further than the health and ecological dimensions: its potential effects on society are considerable, and include the costs of living, production systems, trade, culture, and ethics.
In this field, as in most, we need to take calculated risks where the potential benefits are significant. It is not my intention to discuss the merits or demerits of any particular practise. What we should be doing, is encouraging and permitting research, capacity development and the commercialisation of biotechnology products that stand to benefit South Africans; and expanding our ability to take full advantage of the biotechnology era.
A national biosafety service platform, we believe, will effectively help address many of the biotechnology hurdles in South Africa.
Our objective, as articulated in our biotechnology strategy, is to establish a sustainable and competitive biotech industry, which will result in the development of safe and beneficial products. Biosafety South Africa will assist us in achieving this by offering expert advice and services and investing in the strategic biosafety aspects of biotechnology projects and the resultant products.
By and large, biosciences development proceeds at a brisk pace and the risks associated with these developments and the new technologies that accompany them should be identified and regulated accordingly. Biosafety is a highly technical and specialised subject that integrates aspects of science, law and business. It is evident that both the developers of the technology and regulators will benefit from local, professional biosafety expertise. Apart from any other consideration it is abundantly clear that South Africa’s developers of direct genetic enhancement technologies need support to get products through the complex and costly regulatory system.
A great deal has happened in this field since the proclamation of the GMO Act of 1997. The Act has provided a framework to ensure that all activities involving the use of genetically modified organisms are carried out in such a way as to limit possible harmful consequences. As such, it is recognised as being both comprehensive and well-balanced
The vision of Biosafety South Africa is to support innovation in biotechnology by ensuring the development of safe, sustainable biotechnological products. It is already promoting the biosafety of biotechnological products through the delivery of value-adding services and investment in strategic biosafety research.
These value-adding services include ensuring access to all relevant regulatory and biosafety information, data and services for all stakeholders and stimulating sustainable growth by ensuring regulatory compliance of biotechnological products. It will also explore ways of increasing capacity for risk assessment through skills development.
The field of biological diversity, which is essentially the focus of biosafety, is a wide and complex one and touches on issues as diverse as international law, trans-boundary agreements, the antarctic treaty system, hazardous wastes, international justice, civil aviation, persistent organic pollutants and atomic energy, to name a few. In this respect we have both a national and an international responsibility and it’s comforting to know that we now have in place a body and a mechanism with which to face up to these responsibilities. More than that, we have a vehicle by means of which creative and inventive scientific minds can actually bring innovative products and techniques safely and productively to the marketplace.
Although we are here today to celebrate the official launch of this important initiative, the fact that it has actually been operational for a short while means we can also celebrate its early successes.
To name a few achievements to date, Biosafety South Africa has:
* Established firm collaborative partnerships with various international role players in biosafety, including the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology; the Biosafety Resource Network of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre and New Partnership for Africa's Development's (Nepad) African Biosafety Network of Expertise
* It has developed and commissioned a wide range of strategic biosafety research projects and has already committed more than R5 million over the next three years to strategic biosafety research
* It has established new capacity in South Africa for biosafety research by investing in research groups that had not previously undertaken any biosafety research, and funded 11 postgraduate bursaries
Congratulations to the team for these achievements!
To conclude, in the delivery of the South African National Biotechnology Strategy, we have set up the necessary instruments to drive biotechnology commercialisation, a series of technology platforms to enable biotechnology development and a range of capacity development initiatives to ensure there is human capital for the growing sector. BioSafety South Africa is a further and critical, step we have taken to enable responsible biotechnology development and a vibrant South African Bio-Economy.
I wish all involved in BioSafety South Africa much success and a long and distinguished future and a safe and sustainable one, without any modification!
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
18 February 2010
Source: Department of Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.za/)
