Experts back commercialization of Bt eggplant, Biosafety

For almost two decades, Filipino environmentalists and experts have tussled with each other on the issue of adopting genetically modified organisms (GMO) and making them avAIlable for widespread public use. Now, another issue has posed itself for consideration or combat, whichever way one looks at it.
Agricultural biotechnology expert Dr. Serge Francisco is batting for the commercialization and adoption of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplant since it would benefit farmers, consumers and the environment.
Francisco’s position is anchored on the studies he had made on Bt eggplant, as contAIned in his book “Projected Impacts of Agricultural Biotechnologies for Fruits and Vegetables in the Philippines and Indonesia.”
The scientist stressed that the current protocol for genetic engineering in the country is more stringent than in the United States, which also has a large organic farming sector.
He sAId that in the US, the only requirement to conduct genetic engineering in the laboratory is to notify the US Department of Agriculture.
In the Philippines, however, laboratory work on the genetic engineering has to be approved by the Department of Science and Technology Biosafety Committee (DOST-BC).
Francisco argued the strict framework is a guarantee that there will be no shortcuts in the process.
His studies contends that Bt eggplant cultivation would lead to a huge reduction in expenses for pesticides and other inputs since the genetically-modified variety is armed with proteins that fruit and shoot borers (FSBs) feasting on eggplants avoid like the plague.
With bigger harvest volumes, farmers are thus assured of meeting the demand for eggplants, which comprise about 20 percent of demand for vegetables. Technically, the hugely popular tomato is considered taxonomically as a fruit rather than as a vegetable.
On the other hand, Dr. Saturnina Halos, chAIr of the Biotechnology Technical Advisory Team of the Department of Agriculture (DA), sAId the country’s strategy for biosafety, the National Biosafety Framework, is considered a model by other Southeast Asian countries.
Because of this, the Philippines had been visited by representatives from Peru, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Korea and other countries, sAId Halos.
In the Philippines, a GM crop first goes through several years of development, and then another five to six years of regulation before it hits the market, sAId Julieta Estacio, head of the secretariat of the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines (NCBP) and DOST-BC.
Each step in GMOs’ development and evaluation needs to be approved by the DOST-BC and the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI).
An expert in GM crops, Dr. Halos also clarified that Bt eggplant is not the first food crop in the country. The Philippines had been importing many genetically modified (GM) commodities.
She also sAId that consumer products such as beer, cheese, gelatin, some juices and detergents already contAIned GM components. This is something not many people know, she sAId.
She, however, contended that avAIlable GM crops support sustAInable agriculture, and that Bt corn has been proven as safe as its non-GM counterpart to the environment. Hence, GMOs are as beneficial to farmers as non-GMOs, and that they provide the requirements of sustAInable agriculture.
Dr. Halos sAId GM crops can help agriculture cope with climate change as they either improve crops for climate change, such as the drought-tolerant rice and corn. Insect resistant and herbicide tolerant crops now being developed reduce the damaging processes to the environment.
Planting GM crops also neutralize the impact on the environment of other agricultural, industrial or household practices. For instance, GM crops planted in 2006 practically reduced by 14.8 billion kg the amount of carbon dioxide released and the environmental impact of 6.6 million cars on the road.
To assuage critics looking at one critical angle of Bt crops production, Dr. Halos sAId there is a strategy to delay insects from developing resistance to Bt, and that Insect Resistance Management (IRM) is required for Bt corn growers.