By Rhea Sandique-Carlos
MANILA - The Philippines has so far approved 41 varieties of
genetically-modified plants for use in the country, with three types of corn
also cleared for commercial cultivation, the Agriculture Department said
Tuesday.
The corn varieties approved for commercial cultivation are Bt corn,
which is resistant to corn borer, developed by U.S. agrochemical firm
Monsanto Co., a herbicide tolerant corn also developed by Monsanto, and a Bt
corn variety developed by Swiss company Syngenta AG, said Clarito Barron,
assistant director of the department's Bureau of Plant Industry.

As well as corn varieties, plants that have been approved for direct
use as food, feed and for processing are soybean, canola, potato, cotton,
sugarbeet and alfalfa, Barron told a news briefing.

The BPI is also currently reviewing an application from Bayer
CropScience to introduce a genetically-modified variety of rice for food,
feed and processing.

Last year, total land area planted to Bt corn was estimated at around
200,000 hectares while those planted to herbicide tolerant varieties totaled
around 56,000 hectares, the BPI said.

The Philippines was the first country in Asia to approve the
commercial cultivation of a genetically-modified Bt corn variety in December
2002.


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