By Paul M. Icamina

The Philippines plants 300,000 hectares to Bt corn - and is ranked 10th
among 13 so-called ?biotech mega-countries? growing 50,000 hectares or more
of biotech crops, in this case Bt corn.
The genetically engineered corn that is resistant to borer insects was
first commercially planted in 2002. It is now planted to more than 300,000
hectares by about 125,000 Filipino farmers, according to the International
Service for the Acquisition of Agricultural Biotech Applications (ISAAA),
which made the ranking.

Insect resistance is achieved by incorporating into the corn the gene for
toxin production from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). This toxin,
which is safe for human consumption, is currently used as a conventional
insecticide in agriculture.

GM crops that permanently produce this toxin have been shown to require
lower quantities of insecticides.

ISAAA admits that, like every new technology, ?there are potential risks
which regulatory institutions are reviewing.? These include the danger of
unintentionally introducing allergens, carcinogens and other anti-nutrition
factors in food detrimental to health.

There is the likelihood that GM products will escape from cultivated crops
to mix with other close and wild relatives. There is the potential that
pests evolve resistance to the toxins produced by GM crops and the risk of
these toxins affecting non-target organisms.

ISAAA supports biotech projects like the Papaya Biotechnology Network of
Southeast Asia that groups the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand
and Vietnam.

It facilitated an agreement with Monsanto to donate its GM technology that
provides resistance to the papaya ring spot virus. It also brokered an
agreement with Zeneca (now Syngenta Seeds) and the University of Nottingham
to share their delayed-ripening technology with the Philippines.

ISAAA brokered the donation of virus-resistance technology from Monsanto to
the University of the Philippines-Los Ba?os and the Leyte State University
to develop local sweet potato varieties resistant to the feathery mottle
virus.

www.checkbiotech.org