Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) Inc.

Attempts to amend OA ordinance a backward step for Davao City, say organic advocates

DAVAO CITY  – Members of the organic agriculture  movement assailed the plans of the City Council Committee on Agriculture to amend the Organic Agriculture Ordinance of Davao City ostensibly to allow the field testing of the genetically modified Bt talong. “It is ironic that the call to review the organic agriculture ordinance came after proponents of GMOs attended  a city council hearing presided by Hon. Conde Baluran, Chair on the Committee on Agriculture”, said Tom Villarin, Executive Director of SIMCARRD, a non-government organization focusing on sustainable farming issues and asset reform. Organic agriculture advocates like SIMCARRD have long maintained that Organic Agriculture and Genetically Modified crops cannot co-exist because of the danger of contamination. “They are poles apart and no win-win solution is possible. Transgenic crops kill indigenous varieties and will make OA impossible.  The city hasn’t even implemented the organic ordinance, now they are already thinking of amending it.  What gives?”, Villarin pointed out. “Politicians should not fall into the myth that GMO proponents are peddling like it addresses poverty, increases productivity and solves hunger”, said Villarin. “It is a myopic argument that provides a singular solution to complex problems.  Besides it is really the profit interest of modern biotechnology companies that are behind this push for expansion of GMOs”, he added. The Mindanao PO representative to the National Organic Agricultural Board (NOAB) also decried the attempt to amend  the local policy on organic agriculture.   NOAB Board Member Emalyn Legal that this latest attempt will undermine the advances made by the Philippines in the support of organic agriculture. “GMOs are being rejected worldwide, “she said. “So why should the city rethink its stand just to accommodate the testing of a GM crop?” Legal, who is also the Advocacy Officer for the Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Magsasaka (PAKISAMA,) pointed out the existence of RA 10068 or what is known as the National Organic Agriculture Law  should already be a guidepost for policymakers everywhere to uphold the supremacy of organic agriculture over conventional agricultural technologies like Bt technology. “If  Negros Island, Bohol and Mindoro in the Visayas can show  the way in rejecting  GMOs, I don’t see why Davao City cannot lead the way for other cities in making Mindanao GMO-free”, she added. (PR)

Ban all GM crops, groups ask city council

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews) — Groups promoting organic agriculture urged the City Council to reject not only Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) eggplant, the first genetically modified vegetable scheduled for commercialization next year, but also all genetically modified crops in Davao City.

Lia Esquillo, executive director of the Interface Development Interventions Inc., made the call during the city council committee on agriculture hearing also attended by scientists and proponents of Bt eggplant.

New international study shows Bt gene to be toxic

DAVAO CITY –   Organic  farming advocates in Davao welcomed the latest independent  study which revealed that  the consumption of the Bt eggplant can  cause inflammation, reproductive disorders and liver damage. The Institute for  Independent Impact Assessment in Biotechnology released a report prepared by  Lou Gallagher, an environmental epidemiologist and risk assessment expert  from New Zealand , which revealed that the safety claims made for the Bt  brinjal (eggplant) are unwarranted and not supported by existing data.  “On the contrary, there are alarming signs that the consumption of food derived from these plants could result in adverse health effects”, Gallagher said. After analyzing the raw data of the 14 and 90-day feeding studies of the Bt brinjal on experimental rats, she confirmed that there is  “organ and systems damage: with  OVARIES at half their normal weight, enlarged spleens with white blood cell counts at 35 to 40 percent higher than normal with elevated eosinophils, indicating immune function changes;  and toxic effects to the liver: as demonstrated by elevated bilirubin and elevated plasma acetylcholinesterase”. She then concluded that on the basis of the existing data, the genetically engineered eggplant cannot be recommended for human consumption. ““Major health problems among test animals were ignored in these reports. The single test dose used was lower than recommended by the Indian protocols. Release of Bt brinjal for human consumption cannot be recommended given the current evidence of toxicity to rats in just 90 days and the studies’ serious departures from normal scientific standards”. ,she said. Go Organic Mindanao Coordinator Angelica Castro said that this latest report underscored the dangers of the Bt eggplant to human health.  “The City Government of Davao was correct in deciding to uproot the Bt talong from the experimental site to prevent contamination and the eventual accidental consumption of the Bt eggplant”, she said. The gene being used in  Bt talong has been sourced from the same stock of bt brinjal hybrids being tested in India. The Bt eggplant is genetically engineered to produce insecticidal proteins (called Bt toxin) which target  the Eggplant Fruit and Shoot  Borer (EFSB) pest. But according to Dr. Rodel Maghirang,  Bureau of Plant Industry scientist,  there is really no need for Bt talong because there are varieties which are resistant to EFSB.  Maghirang who was in Davao last November  11, 2010  to give a seminar on Integrated Pest Management to personnel of the City Agriculture Office was asked about  his opinion on the Bt talong issue. “May matitibay na  tayong variety ng talong pero nagdevelop pa rin sila ng Bt mainly for money.”, he said. UP Mindanao  has repeatedly  maintained that it is testing the open pollinated variety (OPV)  which it intends to  distribute to small farmers everywhere. But GOM members are not convinced.  Interface Development Interventions  Policy Advocacy Officer Chinkie Pelino-Golle said that the field testing of the OPV Bt talong opens the  gates for further  testing of commercial varieties  of genetically modified BT talong which  are better than the OPV but will be sold in the market.  “ Who will then stand to gain from this scenario? Certainly not the small farmers who cannot afford to buy these hybrid seeds. Only Monsanto, who will continue to profit from these seeds”, she said. The Bt eggplant was originally developed by the Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company  (Mahyco), the Indian subsidiary of the US seeds corporation Monsanto.  Mahyco  had sub-licensed the technology to the University of the Philippines in Los Banos to develop Bt talong in the Philippines. Gallagher’s  findings are the latest in the list of negative findings on the Bt eggplant . In 2010, negative findings have already been discovered from an examination of the dossier by  Jack Heinemann (Genomics), Judy Carman (study design and statistical rigour etc) and the authoritative environmental risk assessment by Andow (published), which confirme  that the ERA (Environmental Risk Assessment) for Bt brinjal has essentially not been done.