By LINAH BENYAWA
Scientists have expressed fear the ban on the importation of genetically modified food will affect more than 1.6 million Kenyans living with HIV/Aids.
Dr Joel Ochieng, a Research Fellow at the University of Nairobi’s Evolutionary Genetics Centre for Biotechnology and Bioinformatics and College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences explained that the lives of 6 per cent of the Kenyan Population living with HIV/Aids depends on fortified blended and specially formulated food rations like corn-soy blend most of which were genetically modified remained in jeopardy following the ban.
“According to statistics by the National Aids Control Council and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics about 1.6 million people infected with HIV/Aids depend on formulations most of which contain genetically modified materials,” he said.
He added: “We are therefore asking the Government to lift the ban on the importation of the GMOs.” Dr Ochieng was speaking during an interview with The Standard yesterday.
