In 2001, the Meeting of the COMESA Ministers of Agriculture raised concerns that proliferation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could impact significantly on trade and food security in the region. This triggered studies on a regional approach to biotechnology and biosafety policy in Eastern and Southern Africa. The studies and stakeholder consultations revealed that farm incomes would i...

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Recombinant DNA techniques are capable of introducing genetic changes into food organisms that are more predictable than those introduced through conventional breeding techniques. This review discusses whether the consumption of DNA in approved novel foods and novel food ingredients derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be regarded as being as safe as the consumption of DNA in ...

Political responses to novel foods and crops can be specific to the new traits of those crops (agronomic versus enhanced nutrients), to the intended uses of those crops (food for people versus feed for animals), and also to the methods used to introduced those traits (conventional breeding versus genetic engineering). This article describes variations in observed political responses to three di...

This article surveys the research and development of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) over the last decade since its invention in the early 1990’s. The importance of micromechanics in the materials design strategy is emphasized. Observations of unique characteristics of ECC based on a broad range of theoretical and experimental research are examined. The advantageous use of ECC in certa...

Allergenicity is defined in this chapter as the capacity to elicit an IgE immune response upon animal or human immunisation or exposure. All newly expressed proteins in genetically modified plants that could be present in the final food or feed destined for human or animal consumption should be assessed for their potential to cause allergic reactions. This should include consideration of whethe...

Digital PCR (dPCR), as a new technology in the field of genetically modified (GM) organism (GMO) testing, enables determination of absolute target copy numbers. The purpose of our study was to test the transferability of methods designed for quantitative PCR (qPCR) to dPCR and to carry out an inter-laboratory comparison of the performance of two different dPCR platforms when determining the abs...

This paper describes particular aspects of the marketing of veterinary medicinal products (VMPs) that contain or consist of genetically modified micro-organisms (GMMs) or genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The regulatory requirements and the procedures applied in the European Union for each phase (pre-marketing, authorisation process, and post-authorisation labelling and monitoring) are exp...

Immunoglobulin genes can be efficiently expressed following transfection into myeloma cells. Using protoplast fusion, transfection frequencies greater than 10(-3) can be achieved. Compatible plasmids containing two different selectible markers are used to simultaneously deliver heavy and light chain genes to the same cell. To produce molecules with differing specificities the rearranged and exp...

It is emerging that benefits of new innovations in agricultural biotechnology may not be realised without appropriate biosafety regulatory mechanisms. The Kenyan regulatory experiences related to regulation of genetically engineered (GE) agricultural activities are explored to provide some basis for defining the challenges involved in biosafety regulation. The various shortcomings in the way th...