AUDA-NEPAD ABNE in partnership with the Agence National de Biosecurité (ANB), in Burkina Faso, provided technical support for the development of a guidance document on Genome Editing (GE) in Bobo-Dioulasso, from 16-20 August; 2021. Participants included Biosafety regulators from ANB, Scientists from the Agriculture Research Institute (INERA), the Health Research Institute (IRSS) and the University, and Ethics Committee Officers.

The main objectives of this meeting were to share up-to-date information on emerging technologies including synthetic biology, gene drive and gene editing and to provide the appropriate technical background for the development of the specific guidance document. The meeting also sought to review the country existing regulatory instruments and practices and discuss the gaps that need to be addressed before kick starting the process of developing the guidance document on genome editing.

During the meeting, key topics such as gene editing with a case study on rice, gene drive with a case study on malaria vector mosquitoes were presented. An overview of the ongoing international negotiations on emerging technologies under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and a review of the national regulations were also discussed. As a key output of the meeting, a draft zero of the genome editing guidance document was developed and pre-validated by the group.

Two separate working groups worked in session to produce the draft guidance document.

Burkina Faso, as many other countries, strives to catch up with the fast-evolving emerging technologies by constantly updating and consolidating its national regulatory system. Soon after the adoption of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the country established an enabling system to explore modern biotechnology and related emerging technologies to address its socio-economic challenges. Recently, as part of the Rice International Research Consortium, the Burkinabe Agricultural research institute (INERA) started experiments with rice lines that are genetically modified using genome editing techniques for resistance to bacterial blight disease which is the major threat to rice production globally and in Africa. Some of the most virulent strains of the bacteria Xanthomonas oryzae that causes the disease are found in Burkina Faso.

Gene editing has recently gained a lot of interest globally thanks to the advent of the CRISPAR-Cas9 technology. At the same time, it raises regulatory challenges that fuel discussions at international, regional and national levels. In most part of the world, regulatory instruments are being developed or updated to accommodate these emerging technologies. In Africa, Nigeria and Kenya have been working hard in the past months to develop their national guidelines on genome editing. The National Biosafety Agency (ANB) in Burkina Faso has just requested support from AUDA-NEPAD to start consultations for developing national guidelines on Gene editing.

Aside the main agenda of the technical support meeting, the AUDA-NEPAD team visited the gene edited rice experiments under greenhouse in Bobo-Dioulasso and interacted with the Principal Investigator on the preliminary data collected. The team also paid a courtesy visit to the Head of the Health Research Institute (IRSS) and conveyed AUDA NEPAD appreciations and congratulations to the research team who recently received the regulatory approval to start the Stage 2 phase of the gene drive technology development.