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Deputy Speaker Tayebwa advises NARO experts against lobbying for the GMO bill, expressing opposition due to a rejected liability clause. He proposes genetic enhancement over genetic engineering and predicts challenges in lobbying the President.

The National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) experts on 14^th November 2023 were advised by Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa that they should not waste their time lobbying parliament on the GMO bill, since he will not support it.

Speaking at the National Agriculture Research Institute in Namulonge, where he visited to examine the latest technologies, Tayebwa stated that before they go with genetic engineering, the parliament will assist them with genetic enhancement on what they now have in the lab.

He acknowledged that he was one of the bill’s opponents and declared that he was prepared to keep fighting it because the scientists had rejected a strict responsibility clause, which would have held them accountable if the substance they developed caused cancer. 

He claimed that because Parliament disagreed with him on the introduction of GMOS, they would not succeed in lobbying the President.

“We suggested adding a strict liability clause to hold you accountable for any items that cause cancer. You objected, claiming the products were completely safe. We suggested adding a strict liability clause to ensure that you cannot avoid responsibility.

If you would like to provide us with GMOS, we have a clause that states that if a company develops GMOS and someone claims it caused cancer, and we prove that it did cause cancer, then we will come after you to make amends “Tayebwa mentioned.

Research on all facets of agriculture, including crops, cattle, fisheries, forestry, agro-machinery, natural resources, and socioeconomics, is the responsibility of the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO).