002 | GMO? Kenyan GMO Maker Reacts | Dr. Susan Moenga (Plant Biotechnologist)

The Vulnerable Scientist

The announcement by the government, after a cabinet meeting on October 3, 2022, chaired by Kenyan President William Ruto, that it had lifted the ban on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) after a 10-year suspension has led to various reactions from Kenyans. In this episode, we get a reaction from a Kenyan who has made and eaten a GMO before as a Plant Biotechnologist (Susan Moenga).

Dr Susan Moenga who is a Plant Biotechnology expert and whose previous research has seen her make a GMO plant before gives her views on the Ban. She also explains why she would prefer calling it genetic engineering instead of genetic modification since genetic modification is a bit wide and may have no intent. Dr. Susan currently works as a Post-doc at ICRISAT and computational biologist at Nucicer.

The Key takeaway is we have been eating GM foods in Kenya the conventional way but not genetically modified foods at the molecular level known as genetic engineering which is what was recently accepted. She also encourages not to put Genetic modification to be of plants only but the possibility of more in other areas of research. In the following episodes, I will be talking to a Kenyan Biotech expert who has worked for the National Biosafety authority in Kenya for years.

Music Credit: Dance like Mike, Beats Composed by Scoobadive, Produced by Scoobadive. Release date September 30, 2022, Downloaded on October 13th 2022.

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