Farmers, scientists urge gov’t to resist anti-GMO lobby

Leading Filipino scientists and farmer organizations recently called on the government "to resist a new wave of pressure from anti-GMO lobbyists who are on an apparent campaign to derail the country’s bid for food sufficiency".

The leaders said the recent botched attempt by foreign anti-GMO lobbyists to link ailments among local tribesmen to genetically-modified corn crops may be a sign that the government policy on biotechnology "may not have been beneficial to some foreign business interests."

The Arroyo government adopted the use of biotechnology in 2002 in a bid to improve farm productivity while reducing the need for chemical applications. It also approved the domestic propagation of the high-yielding Bt corn variety following field test results that it can raise production by up to 40 percent with less chemical insecticide application.

The policy, however, was opposed by Europe-based groups.

Recently, Filipino scientists and farmers groups have questioned allegations by Norwegian anti-GMO campaigner Terje Traavik that certain respiratory ailments among B’laan tribesmen in Mindanao were caused by the high-yielding pest-resistant Bt corn variety. Health officials also belied the claims.

Leading Filipino scientist and University of the Philippines medical expert Nina Barzaga urged Traavik to desist from "engaging in a scare campaign unless his claims can be substantiated using scientific methodology".

Barzaga said the allegations need to be evaluated "based on the principles of immunology and immunobiology." Barzaga is a professor of medical microbiology and microbial immunology at the University of the Philippines in Manila.

Farmer-leader Edwin Paraluman, chairman of the Agricultural and Fisheries Council of General Santos City, and of the Provincial Farmers Action Council of South Cotabato, meanwhile, urged the government ‘to pursue the biotechnology-based strategy for food security". He said the agricultural officials "must not succumb to the perennial campaign by anti-GMO groups to derail the country’s bid for food sufficiency."

Paraluman said "with dwindling farmlands, the need for a scientific approach to agriculture has become even more important". He also said the use of biotechnology-processed plant varieties, including Bt corn, "liberates farmers from our age-old bondage to toxic chemical insecticides".

Bt corn reportedly significantly reduces or eliminates the use of chemicals pesticides since it is naturally resistant to the Asiatic corn borer, the biggest plague of corn farms in the Philippines.

The other scientist groups that supported the government’s adoption of biotechnology were the Women Association of Scientists in the Philippines, The Philippine Association for the Advancement of Crop Science and Technology, the Crop Science Society of the Philippines and the Biochemical Society of the Philippines.

It was also backed by the Philippine Maize Federation, the country’s biggest organization of corn farmers.