MANILA, Philippines - The Sangguniang Bayan (SB) of Bay, Laguna, has approved a resolution authorizing the field trial of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplant at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños (UPLB).
By a unanimous vote, the SB said the conduct of the trial is necessary to determine the benefits that farmers would derive from the tests and noted that the research being undertaken at UPLB is not synonymous to the mass propagation of the genetically modified (GM) vegetable.
Opposition to the field trial was withdrawn following a presentation by UPLB experts that the research by the UPLB-Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB) was necessary to provide the performance of the vegetable under crop and find out if it does not pose any risk to humans and the environment.
Vice Mayor Soriano G. Escueta said all eight councilors, including the president of the Liga ng mga Barangay (LMB) and the president of the Sangguniang Kabataan Federation (SK Federation) approved the resolution.
Those who voted to allow the field trial of Bt eggplant were: Councilors Emerson M. Ilagan; Mario M. Ilagan; Leonardo C. Malagno; Alejandro M. Junsay; Maria R. de Leon; Isidro M. Tolentino; Arthur S. Panopio, LMB president, and; Kier Melvin F. Ebron, SK Federation president.
Junsay said the SB was convinced that the field test was covered by strict biosafety rules and closely monitored in compliance with government standards for agricultural biotechnology products.
Escueta said municipal agriculturist Alexander G. Darvin also endorsed the field trial and added the rules covering biosafety and the commercialization of biotech crops took 10 years to craft and each crop has to pass through seven years of testing before it could be endorsed for commercialization.
He added that a clear benefit to farmers and consumers is that Bt eggplant does not need to be subjected to treatment with pesticide since the vegetable itself develops its own defenses against fruit and shoot borers (FSB) that ruin crops.
The approval of the field trial of Bt eggplant within the UPLB campus by the Bay SB douses cold water on the attempt of Greenpeace to prevent all seven sites in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to continue the tests.
Greenpeace members also uprooted two Bt eggplants at the Bay field trial site in a morning raid, with the anti-GMO activists garbed in overalls claiming that what they did was to "decontaminate" the site.
