DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said here on Thursday he will ban the commercial production of genetically modified eggplants in the country.
After years of development and field testing in India, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Eggplant, is currently being tested in Los Baños, Laguna; Santa Barbara in Iloilo; Baybay in Leyte; University of the Philippines Mindanao here; and at the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan, North Cotabato.
Earlier field testing has resulted in harvests in Santa Rosa, Pangasinan and Camarines Sur.
Environmentalists led by Go Organic Philippines raised the alarm over genetically modified organisms in food, saying scientific tests have not ruled out yet other possible hidden risks.
Elenita Dano, program manager of the Action Group on Erosion, Trash and Concentration (ETC Group), cited how the Indian environment minister imposed a moratorium on the commercial testing of Bt Brinjal in India unless established by independent scientific studies that it was safe for human consumption and will not threaten local varieties.
She lamented that instead of being cautious about it, the Philippines has been rushing the crop’s commercialization.
If plans at the Institute of Plant Breeding push through, the Philippines will be the first in Asia to commercialize the genetically modified eggplant by 2011.
But Alcala said Bt eggplant could not be sold in Philippine markets unless it was proven that it would not pose harm to the health of consumers.
Alcala, who authored the country’s Organic Agriculture Act, said he was allowing the field testing to continue, however.
He said contrary to what environmentalists fear, the field testing will not contaminate the native variety because it is done in a “contained place.”
But Dano disagreed.
“There is a great danger of contamination because although eggplant is a ‘self pollinated’ species, the extent of cross-pollination has been reported to be as high as 48 per cent,” she said, citing a study by Dr. Elmer Borromeo on the “Basic Information on Bt Eggplant.”
“Hence, it is impossible to plant a genetically modified eggplant without contaminating the local varieties planted in the neighborhood,” Dano added.
Bt eggplant was developed and field-tested in India in 2005 to 2007 by the Indian Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Ltd. (Mahyco), a subsidiary of Monsanto, the multinational company responsible for the introduction of Bt corn in the Philippines.
The company said the genetically modified variety will solve eggplant growers’ pest problems. The gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, which was incorporated into the eggplant’s genes, will release a toxin that will kill eggplant fruit and shoot borers.
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