Environmentalists oppose commercialization of Bt corn

University of the Philippines doctors, professors and practitioners expressed opposition to the commercialization of genetically modified corn (Bt corn), saying the government has practically reneged on its mandate to protect the people’s right to health and healthy environment.

Their move was supported by the Ecological Society of the Philippines (ESP) in a statement made by its president Antonio M. Claparols who is also the regional councilor of International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). Other supporters are Elenita C. Daño, executive director, SeaRice, Angelina P. Galang, executive director Miriam Peace, Sr. Ma. Aida Velasquez, OSB, coordinator, Linkod-Tao-Kalikasan.

There are real dangers arising from the commercialization of Bt corn. This is a very serious problem and may disrupt and affect the earth’s environment. Human health and environment will be affected to an extent that we cannot repair nor abate the ill effects and the consequences.

They said real dangers arising from the commercialization of Bt corn are:

1. It would likely spread antibiotic resistant genes which would render life-saving antibiotics ineffective, thereby endangering the lives of countless patients with various infectious diseases. Numerous international bodies have warned about this danger, including the World Health Organization, British Medical Association, and the Physicians for Social Responsibility.

2. There is a strong possibility that it would result in the appearance and spread of new and/or more virulent strains of infectious agents as a result of horizontal gene transfer involving viral vectors used to transfer the bacterial Bt gene into corn plant.

3. Bt corn carries the potent form of the Bt toxin which has been shown to be non-selective. While the intended purpose of this toxin is to kill the corn borer, this toxin has been shown to affect other non-target species and has been shown to cause adverse effects on the blood, immune system, gastrointestinal and other organ systems in mammalian species. Monsanto has not provided any credible data from appropriate toxi-cologic screening test that would assure us that ingestion of Bt corn is safe.

4. The toxin in Bt corn exhibits similar allergenic characters as the Bt toxin in Starlink corn which has been proven to be highly allergenic and has been banned for human consumption in the US. There is evidence that Monsanto’s Bt toxin can elicit antibody responses consistent with allergic reactions in farm-workers.

5. Data generated from the "safety testing" which were used as basis for approval of the Bt corn, were mainly from Bt microbial proteins which differ significantly from the Bt crop produced toxins to which people are actually exposed to.

6. Many of the studies submitted by the company were conducted on Bt toxins from different crop lines, representing distinct transformation events other than the one registered. This "data bridging" using alternate corn lines as the source of Bt proteins for testing purposes is scientifically dubious.

7. "Required" data, such as amino acid sequence homology/processing and/or heat stability, that should have been collected and carefully evaluated before Bt crops were originally registered in the US are still missing or deficient despite the lapse of many years.

8. The forced insertion of foreign gene randomly into the gene of another species through the genetic engineering technology is by itself inherently dangerous. The effects are unpredictable and largely unknown. Gene constructs could eventually insert themselves into the mammalian cells and even human genome. It could disturb the gene ecology and could possibly disrupt important functions of the organism which could lead to abnormalities and/or diseases, including cancer.