Councilor Rachel Zozobrado, the City Agriculturist Office and environmental groups joined calls for the city council to totally ban Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) starting with GM hybrid corn in the city and support thrust in promoting Organic Agriculture.
“If it is ok with the mayor (Rodrigo Duterte) to totally ban GMO then we will push for that since there are already cities and municipalities doing that,” Zozobrado said in an interview during the Policy Forum on “Protecting the Rights of Organic Agriculture Practitioners in Davao City Against GMO Contamination” held yesterday in the city.
The Forum, which was initiated by the City Agriculturist Office and Go Organic Davao, tackled the various threats posed by GMOs not only to the environment but also to health and to the livelihood of farmers.
The call to ban GMO was triggered after white corn called “sige-sige” is reported widely planted in Davao City, Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Bukidnon, Sarangani, and Agusan del Sur.
MASIPAG Mindanao (Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura) Regional Coordinator, Geonathan Barro said there is no ordinance yet that’s why they are calling the city council for the enactment of the proposed ordinance banning all GMO here.
Barro confirmed GMO “sige-sige” corn is being grown in the city particularly in Paquibato and Marilog districts. “It is a white corn that is tolerant to round- up herbicide and is indeed a GMO corn,” he said.
Go Organic Davao City member Mary Ann Fuertes said it has been the green groups’ dream to have a city ordinance banning all GMO. She said there is already a proposal to ban GMO and the proposed measure already went through two committee hearings.
Davao City’s Organic Agriculture Ordinance was passed in 2009 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations in 2010. However, the city’s effort to promote organic agriculture is threatened by contamination due to the massive production of GE corn. The ordinance and the Organic Agriculture Act provides that GMOs and organic crops cannot co-exist.
Zozobrado said that as of now, there is no ordinance prohibiting GMOs in the city but this was suggested during the time of former councilor Pilar Braga.
Fuertes said few provinces presently implemented an ordinance banning GMOs namely Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Bohol, and Zamboanga del Sur.
City Agriculturist Office (CAO) Officer-in-Charge Rocelio Tabay said that constant use of GMO not only endangers the health of the farmers but also harm the soil. “The CAO really discouraged GMOs here in Davao,” he said.
In September last year MASIPAG and Greenpeace researchers tested samples of white corn and discovered that it is already contaminated. “Sige-sige” is a local word that is loosely applied by farmers to refer to the hybrid corn being marketed by seed companies (BT, RR, and stacked corn varieties) and the white corn varieties that produce corn kernels. Farmers call this sige-sige to mean that corn seeds can be planted again and again.
Modified corn presents a risk to health and the environment. In the Philippines GM yellow corn is used for animal feeds and when these domestic animals are processed for market consumption the BT toxin could potentially find its way into the human population diet, triggering concerns of negative long term effect on the human body.
“We see how dangerous the introduction of GM corn so if we cannot come up with an ordinance banning GMO then maybe councilor Marissa Abella and I can collaborate on an ordinance mandating the labeling of products whether they are GMOs or not,” Fuertes said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also sees probable human carcinogen when consumed with GM corn.
To combat the widespread of GMO, the CAO and the environmental groups are now strengthening the promotion of organic agri-products in the city.
Fuertes said it is also recommendable to push the proposed ordinance to strengthen and establish organic zones in the city. ( Lovely A. Carillo and Maya M. Padillo, Mindanao Daily Mirror)