Agri sector braces for biotech debate

The Philippine agricultural sector faces possible setbacks in its quest for increased harvests in the face of growing polarization among organized groups on the issue of biotechnology and the domestic propagation of a high-yielding chemical-free corn variety.

International lobby group Greenpeace and its local affiliates have recently stepped up pressure on the Department of Agriculture in a determined bid to push the government to reverse its approval for the planting of Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt corn by local farmers.

The corn variety recently passed a long-drawn approval process supervised by the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines. After several field tests and the scrutiny of independent scientists sitting on the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP), the Bureau of Plant Industry gave the variety the go-signal, subsequently fueling protests from some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

President Arroyo had earlier issued a policy at the recent Mindanao Food Summit, declaring biotechnology as an anchor of the government’s quest for food sufficiency and food security. The country is a net importer of corn and is highly dependent on supply from the US and South America for its livestock feed requirements.

Proponents of the domestic propagation of Bt corn cite the variety’s higher yield potentials — from 35 to 40 percent bigger harvest than traditional varieties. They also point to the boost to the environment that the use of the variety will bring about. This is because Bt corn is naturally resistant to the deadly Asiatic corn borer and therefore requires little or zero application of toxic chemical insecticides.

Biotech proponents also point to the growing adoption of biotechnology-processed food varieties worldwide. The United States Department of Agriculture said 75 percent of US soybean acres are now planted with the biotech variety, compared to only 68 percent in 2001. Some 34 percent of US corn acres are now biotech compared to 26 percent last year, while 71 percent of US upland cotton acres are now planted with the biotech variety versus 69 percent last year.

Overall, there is a 13 percent rise in biotech crop use in the US alone.

Besides the US, other countries are now expanding their use of biotech crops: Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, South Africa and Venezuela. In Asia, India recently approved the commercial planting of biotech cotton. China, Indonesia and Thailand are gearing up for their respective commercialization of biotech crops.

Opponents of Bt corn, however, argue that the variety is extremely harmful to a species of friendly insects — the Monarch butterfly. Local Greenpeace campaigners have also warned that Bt corn causes cancer and other forms of sickness and could lead to physical deformities and death.

They also warned against "genetic contamination", a process through which local varieties acquire the characteristics of the biotech plant through pollination.

The local debate reflects the global disagreement on the safety of biotech food crops. The American Medical Association (AMA) officially declared these food and plant types to be as safe as conventional varieties. The AMA also said biotech food and crops have undergone more scientific scrutiny than any other variety.

The view is opposed by the British Medical Association which called for more tests of biotech food and plant varieties. (To be continued)