Philippine FDA Stands by GM Food as Safe

The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) assured that “all food derived from genetically modified (GM) crops in the market have met international food standards and are as safe as and as nutritious as the food derived from conventional crops for direct use as food, feeds and for processing.”

“The FDA hereby reiterates that all GM food products derived from modern biotechnology that are currently on the market have passed food safety assessment based on the UN FAO/WHO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization) CODEX Alimentarius Risk Analysis of Food Derived form Modern Biotechnology and Guidelines for the Conduct of Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plants,” Go added.

The advisory was issued after the Court of appeals (CA) issued a decision stopping the field trial of genetically modified Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplants.

FDA statistics showed that in 2012, some 17.3 million farmers in 28 countries planted GM crops in 170.3 million hectares of farmland, which is six percent or 10.3 million hectares more than in 2011.

In 2012, 82 per cent of total land area planted with cotton was planted to GM cotton.

The global adoption rate for GM soya, GM corn and GM canola was 75 percent, 32 percent and 26 percent, respectively, in 2012.