By Henry Neondo
A Genetically Modified contamination register report by both the
Greenpeace International and Green-watch details 39 new cases of GM crop
contamination in 23 countries over the past one year.
Most of this contamination involved such stable crops as maize and
rice, and included cotton, bananas and papaya.

According to the report, since 2005 the GM register has recorded 216
contaminated events in 57 countries since GE crops were first grown
commercially in large scale in 1996.

This year?s annual report on the register comes against the background
of a controversy surround Genetically Engineered seed varieties.

Kenyan environmentalists and farmers in the country confronted the
government and the seed giant Pioneer Company for importing and selling
genetically modified maize seed variety from South Africa.

This followed revelation by the Kenya Biodiversity Coalition (KBioC)
that maize seed variety imported and sold to Kenyan farmers by Farmchem,
local distributors, was genetically.

Pioneer?s seed maize PHB 30V53 was found to contain MON-810 a GE
variety and that it was infused with insect resistant components which were
highly harmful not only to the environment but to human being.

GE has no approval for planting in Kenya and this particular variety
is banned in several countries including South Africa.

KBioC in cooperation with an international laboratory based in the
United Kingdom in making the revelation in March, a planting month for most
Kenyan farmers, said that they had commissioned independent tests of maize
seed varieties sold.

Green-Peace together with several environmental and farmer
organizations like KBioC in its report says it commissioned tests on 13
different seed varieties bought from stores across the country mostly in
Rift Valley.

Activists now want explanation from the government and demand the
importer to come out clean on the matter and tell Kenyans what motive in
importing and releasing GE variety into the Kenyan market.

Kenya has yet to finalise the process of preparing a Bill to regulate
genetically modified technology. Under the current law governing
environmental matters, such a GE variety would not have been planted without
being subjected to an environmental impact assessment.

But there is a feeling among activists that commercials are not keen
to wait for the Bill to become law before they begin trading in GM crops.

With support from Monsanto and Sygenta, researchers at the Kenya
Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) have long experimented on GM maize,
sweet potatoes, and cotton.

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