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Savants optimistic about SC reversal on ban on Bt eggplant trials
- Details
- Category: Science
- 08 Mar 2014
- Written by Marvyn N. Benaning
SCIENTISTS promoting the propagation of biotech crops in the Philippines are optimistic that the Supreme Court (SC) would overturn the ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA) that barred the field testing of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplant.In a news briefing on Thursday in Makati City, former University of the Philippines (UP) President Emil Q. Javier noted that the magistrates at the High Court were receptive to the scientific position taken by the proponents of the Bt eggplant field testing.
The CA has earlier granted the injunction against the field tests on the basis of the findings of a French team that laboratory mice developed tumors when fed with Bt corn, which possess the same proteins for Bt eggplant.
The study undertaken by Dr. Eric Seralini of the University of Caen was eventually withdrawn by the Food and Chemical Toxicology (FCT) Journal upon finding out that the number of mice used in the experiment was so few to merit a binding general conclusion.
FCT found out that the strain of mice used had a proclivity to tumors to the extent that even those fed with standard non-Bt corn diet developed tumors and died while those that consumed Bt corn survived.
Supporters of Bt eggplant have used the retraction of the article in November 24, 2013, as an additional argument for the SC to strike down the writ of kalikasan issued by the CA against the Bt eggplant field trials.
Moreover, claimed the scientists, the field tests have been completed, thus, making the argument of Greenpeace moot.
Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit Jr., director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca), said biotech crops are crucial for agricultural rural development, with the figures showing that farmers have benefited from Bt corn cultivation since 2002 without any deleterious impact on their health and the environment.
Reacting to suggestions that the coalition backing biotech crops must also have the fire in the belly and the zeal in pushing their cause, officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Institute of Plant Breeding of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA) noted that scientists are not given to waging propaganda campaigns.
Nonetheless, they vowed to intensify their information campaign to promote the truth and make all their pieces of scientific information palatable to SC justices, government officials, farmers, consumers, nongovernmental organization members, the religious and even to Greenpeace leaders and members.
In the same briefing, Agriculture Undersecretary for Policy Segfredo Serrano said, “It is hard to believe that Greenpeace and the other petitioners were demanding 100 percent certainty that Bt eggplant would not pose any threat.” There is no such thing, he explained, since even conventional varieties pose risks to consumers, particularly if the eggplants are bombarded with insecticides.
Dr. Randy Hautea, global coordinator of ISAAA, said that some magistrates had told him “pag-usapan na lang ninyo ito [talk this over],” which means the parties should allow both biotech crops and conventional varieties to be grown.
Hautea said he is always open to a discussion with the critics of Bt eggplant but complained that “some people see things in black and white” and consequently would not let “a hundred flowers bloom and a thousand schools of thought contend.”
Roger Navarro of the Philippine Maize Federation Inc. said the Philippines is so large that both biotech crops and conventional varieties could be cultivated and could even engage in friendly competition. Marvyn N. Benaning.
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In Photo: A researcher from the University of the Philippines Los Baños Institute of Plant Breeding shows Bt eggplants harvested from the field test site in Santa Maria, Pangasinan, in June 2010. (Lyn Resurreccion)
