By Sylvester Thompson

The Biotechnology Society of Nigeria (BSN) has advised that countries should embrace modern biotechnology.

Prof. Sylvia Uzochukwu, President of the BSN, and a professor of Food Science and Biotechnology, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.

While expressing delight that Nigeria embraced the technology, Uzochukwu said biotechnology was not just about providing food security and revolutionalising healthcare, but also charting the course of international trade and diplomacy.

According to her, challenges of population growth and climate change will continue to require bioengineering of plants to improve attributes such as drought resistance at a much larger scale.

She said that in line with international treaty that a regulator should be set up to ensure safe use of genetic engineering, the Federal Government established the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA).

She said that this was to ensure safety of biotechnology products.

“I call on the NBMA that regulation of new products of biotechnology should become more and more product-based rather than process-based.

“What this means is that the agency should concentrate on the safety of the product, irrespective of how it was made,’’ Uzochukwu said.

She said that since the NBMA had been mandated to ensure safety of genetically engineered food products before commercial release, there should be no cause for alarm among the populace.

The BSN President said that the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA), also had the mandate of promoting the technology in Nigeria.

She said that the NBRDA was also required to midwife the regulation of biotechnology products after twenty years of consistent work with various partners.

“The worry of some Nigerians is that apart from personnel costs, these agencies are largely left to fend for themselves and rely on donor funds for the actual execution of their mandates.

“Now that donors are withdrawing funds from projects, it is hoped that our governments will channel funds to science and technology,’’ she said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Kadiri Abdulrahman