A national forum on “Stakes and Challenges of GMOs in Cameroon’s Sustainable Development” opened in Yaounde yesterday.

Eminent University dons, researchers and members of the cvil society are meeting in Yaounde to draft proposals that will guide government in drawing up a national policy on Genetically-modified Organisms, GMOs. A national forum opened in Yaounde yesterday September 8, 2015 with the Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, Emmanuel Bonde, presiding on behalf of Prime Minister, Philemon Yang.

He recognised that GMOs have merits which could help the economy attain set development objectives. It is however of utmost importance for the country to examine, first of all, and in all impartiality, the pertinence and importance such an innovation can have on the economy. Holding on the theme; “Stakes and Challenges of GMOs in Cameroon’s Sustainable Development,” the Yaounde forum is expected to offer government a blueprint on the quality of crops and seedlings the country is expected to embrace in the wake of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union.

According to Emmanuel Bonde, the concept of free trade “obliges companies to be competitive as the only way to stand side-by-side others from developed economies. It is a daunting challenge for technology and for food safety that the government of Cameroon absoultely needs to seek ways of surmounting.”

Although experts say it is not scientifically proven that GMOs are the cause of growing health hazards in society, the civil society is against its introduction in Cameroon. They argue that Cameroon is still heading for the unknown. The say countries like Germany, France, Benin et al are still reticent about admitting GMOs into their territories on counts that they were still seeking to find with clarity what science says about the organisms. 

Cameroon is therefore on the right pedal, seeking to understand from national and international experts of both the private and public sectors how biotechnology (GMOs) could be managed in the country. “This will be an opportunity to propose solutions to government which centres on the welbeing of Cameroonians at a time trade is increasingly being liberalised,” the President of the National Scientific Forum on GMOs, Prof. Jean-Claude Mbarga, said.

Experts say GMOs, also known as transgenic organisms, are material altered using genetic engineering techniques. They are the source of genetically modified food reported to have health hazards, environmental contraints and a blow to intellectual property.