BILL PROPOSES 5-YEAR BAN ON GMO

09 September 2001

LOS BANOS, Laguna--We are not a nation of guinea pigs...

Posted: 10:02 PM (Manila Time) | August 24, 2001

Inquirer News Service

LOS BANOS, Laguna--We are not a nation of guinea pigs.

But Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr. said the entry into the

country of genetically engineered crops and food products . . . may just as well make us one.

We have yet to determine the risks and hazards of biotechnology to

health and the environment,íí said Pichay in an explanatory note to a bill he filed in Congress banning genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the country.

Until then it is incumbent upon government to impose measures that would safeguard our peopleís interests and welfare, he added.

Pichay has re-filed House Bill No. 1376, that proposes a ban for at

least five years on the entry, sale, processing and field release of

products containing genetically modified organisms or that were produced through genetic engineering.

Violators, the bill proposes, will be fined from 100,000 pesos to a

maximum of 500,000 pesos, and imprisoned for one to five years.

They say that so far, there ís nothing to suggest that biotech food

have any direct threat to health, said Pichay in his explanatory note.

It is one thing if the experiment goes wrong only in the laboratory,

he said. But it is entirely different if it does inside our stomachs

or in the environment (where) we live.

There is still no consensus among scientists and researchers worldwide on the issue of safety of genetic engineering on health and the environment.

Advocates of modern biotechnology maintain it will boost production or reduce the use of chemicals.

Critics, however, have called for a thorough study first before the

technology could be released into the environment and market shelves, citing studies that indicate hazards of the technology.

American geneticist Doreen Stabinsky, who did a series of talks in the country on the issue of GMOs last year, warned that gene-altered food could cause severe allergy or even death.

The European Union and the United States are now in a tussle over the safety of GM foods that it is not for us the developing countries like the Philippines to be the laboratories of biotechnology, Pichay said.

We are a gentle culture and anything new that creeps into our humble existence certainly creates a mixture of fear and anxiety, he said. So if it has a lot to do with the food we eat and the air we

breath.

Agrochemical firms Agroseed of Monsanto and Dupontís Pioneer Hi-Bred Phils have been doing field experiments of Bt-corn in the country.

The International Rice Research Institute and the Philippine Rice

Research Institute have a joint proposal to field-test genetically

engineered rice.

Meanwhile, GMO food and food products freely land into the market

shelves, unknown to unsuspecting Filipino consumers.

Last month, Marikina Rep. Del de Guzman filed a bill requiring the

mandatory labeling of GMO food and food products. (MNV)a

MASIPAG

3346 Rhoda Subd.

Los BaÒos, Laguna

PHILIPPINES 4030

Tel: (63-49)536-6183

Telefax: (63-49)536-5549

Email: masipag@mozcom.com

Classification

Subject  GMO Issues
Regional relation  Philippines
Audience  Activists - Government and Policy Makers - NGOs