Philippine scientists involved in development of vitamin A enhanced Golden Rice lament attacks by anti-biotech NGOs derailing rollout
Philippine scientists involved in development of vitamin A enhanced Golden Rice lament attacks by anti-biotech NGOs derailing rollout
After two decades of research and development in the Philippines to study its viability in the country, the government finally granted a permit allowing the commercial planting of the Malusog Rice, the Golden Rice variety tailored for the country’s condition and tastes.
But last April 17, the Court of Appeals revoked the permit, bringing to a halt the commercialization of golden rice and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplant based on a case filed by Greenpeace, the Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pagunlad ng Agriculture (Masipag) and other environmental groups.
The Appellate Court concluded that in the absence of scientific consensus on its safety genetically modified crops should not be commercially cultivated.
But for Dr. Eufemio T. Rasco Jr., an academician at the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), the Philippines has stringent biosafety regulations on genetically engineered crops.
The opponents of the GM crops, he lamented, merely “want that researchers can assure that the technology is completely safe and has to have a completely zero possibility so it will not have a bad effect.”
“This is one requirement that is really difficult or impossible to satisfy,” according to Rasco, a professor emeritus at UPLB.
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