Anti-GMO activists destroy Bt eggplants

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna ,Philippines  – Anti-genetically modified (GM) crops activists have destroyed experimental GM eggplants being studied by the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) here.

The activists reportedly belonging to Greenpeace, entered the UPLB research plots situated in the neighboring town of Bay and uprooted the Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) or transgenic eggplants about to be harvested.

With members of the foreign and local media in tow, the intruders destroyed the fence of the “off-limits” experimental area and uprooted the Bt-eggplants.

Arrival of members of the UP Los Baños police prevented the activists from causing more damage to the plants.

The intruders, who arrived here in vans and pick-ups, were later taken to the UPLB police station inside the UP Los Baños campus for interrogation.

Sources told The STAR that the activists included two Indians. The foreigners will be the subject of future complaint with their embassy in Manila, it was further gathered.

Further investigation is being conducted by the UP Los Baños police prior to the complaint’s endorsement to the Bay Police.

“We will be pursuing this case,” a UPLB official told this writer.

The intruders face such charges as forcible entry, damage to property, vandalism, and violation of government biosafety statutes.

The UPLB official pointed out that the vandals had affronted the “academic freedom” of the university, stressing that such freedom is a well-enshrined right in the UP System.

This is the third time that anti-Bt activists destroyed experimental plants being studied in pursuit of biotechnology research in the Philippines.

About 10 years ago, a horde of violent anti-Bt corn demonstrators entered an experimental transgenic corn farm in Gen. Santos City and destroyed the crops.

In 2006, however, the government finally approved the commercial production of Bt corn in the Philippines.

Last December, anti-’Bt-talong’ activists also uprooted GM eggplants within the UP Mindanao campus in Davao City.

Both the Bt-eggplants at UP Los Baños and UP Mindanao formed part of the second-to-the-final stage of the years-long study of genetically modified or transgenic eggplant in the Philippines.

The penultimate multi-location studies of the eggplant were programmed at the Pangasinan State University (PSU)-Sta. Maria campus; UP Los Baños; Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA) in Pili, Camarines Sur; Iloilo (Sta. Barbara); Visayas State University (VSU) in Baybay City, Leyte; University of Southern Mindanao (USM) in Kabacan, North Cotabato; and UP Mindanao.

After the multi-location trials, the government will decide on whether BT-eggplant will be produced commercially in the country.

Under the multi-phased project, UP Los Baños is developing an FSB-resistant eggplant in partnership with the Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) in India and Cornell University (New York, USA). Mahyco has developed a highly resistant biotechnology eggplant now used in the Philippines, India, and Bangladesh as source of FSB-resistant traits.

Supporting the project are the Department of Agriculture (DA), International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA)-Biotechnology Information Center (BIC), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II (ABSP).

The whole research process has four phases.

The first (contained research in laboratories and screenhouses) was conducted from 2006 to 2007 at the UPLB Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB).

The second (small confined trials) was done also at UPLB from 2007 to 2009.

In the third phase, the DA-Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) requires two experimental seasons before a GM crop is allowed for commercial release (final stage).