Deputy minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Godfrey Gandawa has said Zimbabwe is experiencing severe brain drain of bio-safety experts who can assist in the application of biotechnology in Zimbabwe.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
Gandawa said this yesterday while officially opening the regional bio-safety training workshop in Harare which has attracted scientists from different countries like South Africa, Ghana, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Swaziland and Zambia.
Biotechnology can be applied in industry, agriculture, mining, medicine and the environment through development of modern technology and science to generate energy, increase crop yields, and produce vaccines or in the manufacturing sector.
The minister said the brain drain of biotechnology experts was not unique to Zimbabwe, but Africa as a whole. Gandawa said biotechnology was imperative in crop improvement and pharmaceuticals, amongst others, adding there was need for bio-safety to evaluate its possible impacts on human and animal health, as well as environmental safety. Registrar and chief executive officer of the National Biotechnology Authority Jonathan Mufandaedza said biotechnology in Zimbabwe has been applied a lot in medicine, adding the many medicines used were biotechnology-driven, for example insulin.
“Current studies we have for Ebola and other vaccines are of biotechnology origin. Biotechnology has not been used in food substances in Zimbabwe, but it has been used in other countries and is safe. However, trade is common amongst countries and there are chances that we might be exchanging some biotechnology products through trade. As a regulator, we give assurance to Zimbabweans that we are consuming safe products,” he said.
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Mufandaedza said government had not yet agreed to genetically modified organisms, but added wherever biotechnology was used risk assessment was done to determine safety.