PHL regulations on GMO and the Bt ‘talong’ case
In the field of agriculture and genetic engineering, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have already been studied and tested with careful investigations by renowned scientists. So far, the only available GMO that has been planted in the Philippines is Bt corn.
According to Benigno Peczon, chairman of the Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines Inc., the Philippines is considered a leader in Asia when it comes to biotechnology guidelines. He said in an interview, “We are the first in Asia in terms of how to do with biotechnology, and other countries even come here to learn from us on how we regulate our biotechnology.”
Maria Theresa Cerbolles, Food Drug Regulation Officer III of the Food and Drug Authority, noted there has been no evidence of GMOs’ negative health effects to humans.
She said in an interview with the BusinessMirror: “None that we know of, and even with DOH [Department of Health], in our epidemiology bureau, there’s no direct data that would implicate GMO products to any diseases that we have right now.”
Yet, the issue on regulations surged when Bt talong was marked with concerns and disputes.
“It did not follow the National Biosafety Framework on GMOs, which required the involvement of the five agencies set by the NBF,” she told the BusinessMirror. The five agencies include the departments of Agriculture (DA), Science and Technology (DOST), Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Health (DOH) and the Interior and Local Government (DILG). Hence, the Supreme Court stopped the field trials of Bt talong.
Precautionary principle
The other basis of the ruling was the precautionary principle. According to lawyer Edgardo Carlo Vistan, OIC of the Institute of International Legal Studies, the Supreme Court considered various events, like studies or perhaps reports, journal articles, published scientific studies, and also the testimonies of various experts who were made to testify in one hearing all at the same time, and the Court of Appeals justices who were assigned to hear the case, asked them questions as if they were just in a roundtable.
He told the BusinessMirror, “Based on that, the Supreme Court was not satisfied that the data they had and the evidence presented of the proponents of the GMO use would negate the uncertainty or the danger that were feared that were used by the GMO crops.”
Currently, the Department of Agriculture Administrative Order 8, which was the guidelines followed in GMO research and testing, has been nullified by the Supreme Court.
However, a joint department circular has been signed by the five agencies of the DOST, DA, DENR, DOH and the DILG, which states clearly the general provisions “for research, development, handling and use, transboundary movement, release into the environment, and management of GM plant and plant products.”
Beyond this order, scientists are still concerned on how the perceptions of GMOs are seen by the public.
“I think the scientific community and the government need to collaborate,” Vistan said. “The problem is we have very limited number of scientists, and most of them are the proponents and, of course, they can’t work with the government because of the conflict of interest.”
Vistan added, “But, perhaps, that’s why we need more scientists to work with the government to come up with rules that our scientists and biotech industry will appreciate, and we must have legal parameters that will allow our government to accept products or methods that are 100-percent certain to be safe, and by doing that we will encourage our science and industry stakeholders to develop new applications and technologies.”
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GMO and its associated lethal pesticides and herbicides are dangerous poisons. Eating genetically modified corn (GM corn) and consuming trace levels of Monsanto’s Roundup chemical fertilizer caused rats to develop horrifying tumors, widespread organ damage, and premature death. rats exposed to even the smallest amounts, “developed mammary tumors and severe liver and kidney damage as early as four months in males, and seven months for females.” The animals on the GM diet suffered mammary tumors, as well as severe liver and kidney damage. Everywhere GMO is being grown, food allergies, disorders such as autism, reproductive disorders, digestive problems, and others have been skyrocketing in the human populations.
There has been a drastic decline of crop-pollinating insects all over the world, and this means a catastrophe for the future of the world’s food supply. Wild pollinators like bumblebees, butterflies, and beetles are basically disappearing. GMO industrial agricultural practices are causing this insect genocide. Pollinating insects in general, which include a wide range of insects and other animals, are simply vanishing from their normal habitats and foraging areas. That lower diversity and lower abundance of wild insects means less fruits and destruction of the diversity of plants and their fruits worldwide.
GMOs cross pollinate and their seeds can travel. It is impossible to fully clean up our contaminated gene pool. Self-propagating GMO pollution will outlast the effects of global warming and nuclear waste. The potential impact is huge, threatening the health of future generations. GMO contamination has also caused economic losses for organic and non-GMO farmers who often struggle to keep their crops pure.
GMOs increase herbicide use. Most GM crops are engineered to be “herbicide tolerant”―surviving deadly weed killers. Monsanto, for example, sells Roundup Ready crops, designed to survive applications of their Roundup herbicide. Between 1996 and 2008, US farmers sprayed an extra 383 million pounds of herbicide on GMOs. Overuse of Roundup results in “superweeds,” resistant to the herbicide. This is causing farmers to use even more toxic herbicides every year. Not only does this create environmental harm, GM foods contain higher residues of toxic herbicides. Roundup, for example, is linked with sterility, hormone disruption, birth defects, and cancer.
GM crops and their associated herbicides can harm birds, insects, amphibians, marine ecosystems, and soil organisms. They reduce bio-diversity, pollute water resources, and are unsustainable. For example, GM crops are eliminating habitat for monarch butterflies, whose populations are down 50% in the US. Roundup herbicide has been shown to cause birth defects in amphibians, embryonic deaths and endocrine disruptions, and organ damage in animals even at very low doses. GM canola has been found growing wild in North Dakota and California, threatening to pass on its herbicide tolerant genes on to weeds.
By mixing genes from totally unrelated species, genetic engineering unleashes a host of unpredictable side effects. Moreover, irrespective of the type of genes that are inserted, the very process of creating a GM plant can result in massive collateral damage that produces new toxins, allergens, carcinogens, and nutritional deficiencies.
GMOs do NOT increase yields, and work against feeding a hungry world.
Whereas sustainable non-GMO agricultural methods used in developing countries have conclusively resulted in yield increases of 79% and higher, GMOs do not, on average, increase yields at all. This was evident in the Union of Concerned Scientists’ 2009 report Failure to Yield―the definitive study to date on GM crops and yield.
The toxins associated with GMO should never be tolerated. NEONICOTINOID PESTICIDE neurotoxins are absolutely the main factor causing the collapse of bee and pollinator populations along with other lethal chemicals, Agent Orange herbicides, endocrine disrupting atrazine, glysophate, etc. When these poisons are banned as they were in Europe the bee populations start to recover. GMO neonicotinoids, roundup etc. MUST BE BANNED OUTRIGHT and all the farmers along with USDA, Biotech and chemical companies told to cease and desist from what they are doing.
An even scarier prospect: the “BT” version of GMO soybeans and corn, (basically pesticides engineered directly into the plant )
The “BT toxin” gene is put into the DNA of the corn in order for it to manufacture its own toxins that kill pests. The BT gene originated from a soil bacteria that also infiltrates the microflora (friendly digestive bacteria) in your gut. The Bt gene converts the microflora in your intestine into toxin-manufacturing machines.
So, to be clear, eating GMO corn products can cause your gut (which is primarily responsible for keeping you healthy) to turn into a breeding ground for tiny little pesticide factories inside your body, actively creating toxins which are designed to kill living things. These toxins are found in the blood and are readily transferred across the placenta to developing babies in the womb.
Your ‘cut and paste’ is working overtime.