By Jonathan L. Mayuga & Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
LESS than a week after the government granted approval for food, feed and processing (FFP) use of Golden Rice (GR2E), environmental group Greenpeace urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to revoke the biosafety permit of the genetically modified (GM) crop.
Greenpeace said the approval of GR2E’s biosafety permit is “unwarranted” due to “incomplete” data submitted by proponents. The group also said there was a lack of transparency and adequate public participation in the approval process.
“Greenpeace believes that the approval process for genetically modified organisms in the Philippines should abide by the precautionary principle, and provide standards for safety and security of our citizens and the food we grow and consume,” Greenpeace Philippines Country Director Lea Guerrero said in her letter to Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar, a copy of which was provided to reporters.
“This process must not discount potential threats and should not be biased toward approval at the expense of safety considerations,” Guerrero added.
She said the group expressed its opposition to the issuance of an FFP biosafety permit for GR2E via the comments Greenpeace submitted to Dar’s office last October 24.
“We noted that the supporting information and supporting studies submitted show deficiencies in the data provided for the risk assessment.
These deficiencies cast doubt on the assessment and the safety of GR2E for food and feed,” said Guerrero.
“Additionally, we note that the concerns of farmers, indigenous peoples, religious groups, youth, mothers, consumers and civil society groups were not considered during the process,” she added.
Golden Rice is a genetically engineered rice variety that is rich in beta-carotene. Proponents of Golden Rice say it will help address chronic malnutrition, particularly in vitamin A, which causes blindness among pregnant women and children.
Guerrero said there are available and proven solutions in addressing vitamin A deficiency (VAD) that are “cheaper and more practical” than Golden Rice.
“There are proven solutions to vitamin A deficiency which are cheaper, more practical, do not require the genetic modification of food crops and which are not beholden to giant, foreign, agri-chemical companies. Golden Rice is unnecessary, more so at a time of climate emergency when resilient food and farm systems are imperative,” said Guerrero.
Wilhelmina Pelegrina, senior campaigner at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said the DA should work with other government agencies to promote healthy eating and healthy diets, rather than promote “unproven quick fixes,” like Golden Rice.
“Empowering people to have access to and grow diverse grains, fruits and vegetables for diverse diets is the solution to food and nutrition security,” said Pelegrina.
On December 10, the Philippine government approved the biosafety permit of GR2E FFP use after it concluded that the GM crop, which seeks to reduce VAD, is as “safe” for human consumption as the conventional staple.
In a 22-page consolidated report, the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) said the Department of Health-Biosafety Committee (DOH-BC) concluded that GR2E “will not cause significant adverse health effects to human and animal health.”
The report also indicated that the consumption of GR2E “is unlikely to result in allergic reaction.”
The regulators’ approval came over two years after GR2E’s proponents, the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and the International Rice Research Institute (Irri), applied for the biosafety permit.
The Irri described the FFP approval for GR2E as a “regulatory milestone in the journey to develop and deploy” the GM crop in the Philippines.
Irri said the Philippines is now among the few countries that have recognized GR2E as safe for human consumption, after Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.
It said the GR2E is “intended to be used in combination with existing approaches to overcome VAD, including eating foods that are naturally high in vitamin A or beta-carotene, eating foods fortified with vitamin A, taking vitamin A supplements and optimal breastfeeding practices.”
According to Irri, VAD among Filipino children aged six months to five years increased to 20.4 percent in 2013, from 15.2 percent in 2008 despite public health interventions, such as oral supplementation, complementary feeding and nutrition education.