Ghana Parliament passes biosafety bill

The Ghanaian Parliament has approved a biosafety bill. The regulations were unanimously approved according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) reports. The President’s assent is required before the legislation can come into force. It was first submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Science to the government in 2004, but government changes impeded the passage of the legislation, the ISAAA notes. Furthermore, the country’s national biosafety committee is processing an application for confined trials of genetically modified cowpeas. An agricultural biotechnology research laboratory is to be erected this year in Ghana ( Agrow No 608, p 20). The approval follows that of Nigeria earlier this year ( Agrow No 618, p 25), and the coming into force of biosafety regulations in Kenya ( Agrow No 620, p 21).