Carina Garrigues

Committee: WHO
Topic: GMOs/Food Security
Delegation: Burundi

Position Paper

GMOs and food security are the issues that my room has been assigned. Food
insecurity started when World War II ended in 1945, which caused the baby boom
because people were eager to have children now that is was safe to do so. Since so many
children were born, and the population increased greatly, which caused and spread worry
about the amount of food that was available and if there was enough to feed everyone,
especially in future years. To solve this issue, GMOs (genetically modified organisms),
were created. GMOs and organisms that have been un-naturally modified to be more
effective for farming. Scientists alter the genetic material of an organism so that it will
produce more plants per seed, for example. Some people disagree with GMOs and think
they are too un-natural.

I was assigned to the country Burundi. Burundi has been using biotechnology
since 1960, but no GMOs have been used here so far. Some users of biotechnology are
Research Institutes such as ISABU and IRAZ , dairy companies , bakeries , brewing, the
health centers (vaccines ), the Company Enviro- pure and other centers in Burundi.
Biotech products are used in these centers and are imported from other countries where
the food standards and pesticide quality is met. The majority of the Burundian population
is not much aware of the impact of GMOs and biotechnology and biosafety. However,
the Burundian Association of Consumers is currently trying to pass biotechnology and
GMO legeslations to regulate GMO foods. So in conclusion, Burundi is interested in
starting to use GMOs, but hasn't yet, and is trying to pass legeslations to allow the
country to.

As a delegate of Burundi, our country believes the GMOs will be a good aspect in
our country, and we plan to develop a regulatory framework that will allow us to safely
assess the creation of GM food. Our country is already in the process of creating this
framework. Our country has not participated in safety food assessments for GMOs, but
plans to do so in the very near future. Burundi allows GMO foods to be imported into the
country from other countries for our citizens to consume. We think that GMOs are a good
idea around the world and should be pursued to help decrease world hunger with the
rapidly growing population because they are more efficient in producing more food in a
faster process for the world population.