Indian activists help Filipinos decontaminate Bt brinjal field trial site

A Greenpeace decontamination unit, helped by Indian activists and provincial governments of the Philippines, today removed crops of Bt Brinjal from a field trial site in Barangay Paciano Rizal in Bay, Laguna, Philippines. This action was a follow up to calls made by the public and concerned sections of the society to put a stop to the field trials of the genetically modified (GM) brinjal. The crops were removed down till their roots and sealed in hazmat (hazardous materials) containers to prevent contamination of other fields and crops.

In an action which has clear relevance in India, the Greenpeace team was supported by organic farmers from Davao, Philippines, who had participated in a similar operation carried out by the provincial government of Davao in October last year. The Filipinos were helped by the proponents of sustainable agriculture from India, who have helped formulate the current moratorium on the proliferation of Bt eggplant in their country. After it was put on hold in India, Mahyco which developed Bt brinjal in India has been pushing for its approval in the Philippines, trying to use this as a back door entry for the crop into India.

The activity was held in support of massive protests against seven trial sites across the country. The local governments of 3 of these sites have issued resolutions banning the field trials in their areas, while permits for testing have already been cancelled for both Davao, Leyte and Iloilo. Similar statutes are still in process for Pangasinan, Laguna, Camarines Sur and North Cotabato, but the field trials are mostly already underway.  (Field trials were started in Davao city but were destroyed upon the orders of City Mayor Duterte)

The resistance we see in the Philippines today is a reflection of what happened in India last year. “Greenpeace is taking action today to prevent any further contamination from these hazardous GMO crops.  This Bt brinjal experiment poses a threat to the environment and farmers’ livelihoods aside from violating the spirit of the (Philippines') Organic Agriculture Act, 2010. Once these experimental GMOs flower, their pollen can contaminate both conventional and organic crops, irreversibly damaging them,” said Daniel Ocampo, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Sustainable Agriculture campaigner. 

Even as India completes a year since Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment and Forests, called for an indefinite moratorium on Bt brinjal, the Indian government is in the process of expediting the re-approval process, bending its back to multinationals to permit GMOs into the country, and eyeing the possibility of an approval in the Philippines as a back door and legitimate entry of Bt brinjal into the country. While the farming communities, consumers, health specialists and environmentalists alike continue to raise their objections against GMOs, open air experiments on a variety of GM food crops are being conducted across the country. Of these, GM maize of Monsanto which has been banned by Germany and France has now reached large-scale field trials in India, which is just a step away from commercialisation.

“Such open experiments of GM food crops are a grave threat to our food safety as contamination from them is a reality.” said Shivani Shah, Sustainable Agriculture Campaigner, India. She further stated that “It is unfortunate that even after so much of scientific information is available, which questions the safety of GM crops to health of the citizens and the environment, the Indian government is going ahead with mindless act of permitting numerous open air trials of such crops.”