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When biosafety goes overboard by Saturnina Halos

January-March 2000 Volume 2 No. 1

The biosafety measures applied to the first Bt corn trial in the Philippines is excessive by any standard. This trial, a collaborative research of AGROSEEDS, a subsidiary of Monsanto and the Institute of Plant Breeding, UPLB, is simply asking the question, "Will the Bt gene in the corn protect the plant from the strain of Asiatic corn borer present in Mindanao?"

It took the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines (NCBP) one year to decide that the trial can be established with sufficient safeguards. A major issue is the spread of the Bt corn pollen. Hence, the plants were detasseled to remove the source of pollen. In addition, a 10-ft fiber sheet barrier was erected around the 500-sqm experimental lot to prevent pollen from being carried by the wind into adjoining fields (What pollen when the source was already removed by detasseling the plants?).

Monitoring was stringent since another issue is pilferage. How sure are we that the seeds will all be planted as planned? From the time the seeds arrived, these have been documented by the Bureau of Plant Industry, Plant Quarantine Division, headed by the Chief, Mrs. Estrella Tuason, and also a member of the NCBP. Seeds were counted and each plant derived documented, whether it died, thinned out, flowered, detasseled, etc. The presence of the Bt gene in the corn plants were ascertained by an ELISA test. This is a test similar to the pregnancy test where color bands indicated the presence of the Bt toxin. The issue of possible deleterious effects on non-target organisms was also studied. Microbial and insect populations were monitored throughout the experiment. Members of the NCBP would periodically fly to General Santos City to monitor the trial.

Vandalism is a possibility since destruction of GMO field trial is sanctioned by Greenpeace. Hence, the area was surrounded by two barbed wire fences. Not content, the company employed more security guards to ensure a 24-hr security. All in all the expense in putting up and monitoring the trial must have cost 10 times that of an ordinary variety trial. Yet, the information generated is not that much more than what one can obtain with an ordinary variety trial. The Bt gene did indeed protect the corn plant 100% and there were more friendly insects in the area. As one farmer-leader puts it "Why all this fuss? This is a safer technology that can secure our harvest for us."

The Bureau of Agricultural Research is the first R&D agency funding risk-assessment of GMOs.

More Articles:

Vol. 2 No. 1 January-March 2000

»» Bar to support IPB's corn and veg research in CMU and BSU
»» DA targets P750 M R&D allocation for Mindanao
»» Gensan farmers clamor for more Bt crops
»» External review team to evaluate IDP proposals
»» The agri trade liberalization in focus
»» Reg VI, VII & VIII interface fisheries RDE programs
»» Philippine ricefields: assessing its ecological impacts
»» New program for speedy access of seeds
»» When biosafety goes overboard
»» Frequently asked questions about GMOs
»» RIFRCs' IT situation analyzed

[More 2000 Articles]