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| Philippines |
| POOR COUNTRIES SEEN TO SUFFER IF ANTI-BIOTECH LOBBIES WIN |
| by Rudy A. Fernandez |
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24-Sep-2000 Philippine Star |
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LOS
BAÑOS, Laguna – The poor developing countries will be the biggest
losers if the anti-biotechnology lobbies in the West succeed in
discouraging public and private investments in agricultural biotechnology.
This was stressed by Dr. Emil Javier, immediate past president of the University of the Philippines (UP) System and now chairman of the technical advisory committee of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). "Developed countries can do without agricultural biotechnology because they have food surpluses and consumers who have no purchasing power to acquire balanced diet," he said. Dr. Javier, who was one-time chancellor of UP Los Baños here discussed "Sustainably Productive Agriculture and Genetically Modified Crops" at the "Biotechnology Media Forum" held recently at the Dusit Hotel Nikko in Makati City. The forum was sponsored by the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), the government’s highest recognition and advisory body on S&T. Panelists were academician Dr. Evelyn Mae Mendoza of UPLB and lawyer Jose Maria Ochave of the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippine (NCBP) under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). Dr. Javier, also a former science minister, said biotechnology has been defined as "any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific uses." It is the new label for a process that human have used for thousands of years to ferment foods such as beer, wine, bread, and cheese. With modern biotechnology, he explained, man has at his disposal a new tool for dramatically increasing and stabilizing biological yields while protecting the natural resource base. The positive impact on the environment from modern biotechnology will come from the more efficient use of land, mineral nutrients, and water; the less need for pesticides as more durable genetic resistances are built into crops; the less need for cultivation with herbicide-tolerant crops and more robust seedlings, thus protecting the soil from erosion; and from the better conservation and management of biodiversity. Dr. Javier, himself a member of NAST, asserted that it is in the Philippines’ interest to develop local capacity for biotechnology research to address food, agricultural, and environmental problems and opportunities unique to the country. He said that Philippine population, which now stands at 75.3 million, is expected to balloon to 108 million by year 2020. By then, the Filipinos require as much as 17.9 million tons of rice, or 40 percent more than what it needs today. This situation presents a problem because land and water resources are expected to continually decrease. Therefore, Dr. Javier emphasized, ways must be sought to increase biological yield. "Modern biotechnology could be a powerful tool for improving productivity and sustainability of agriculture in developing countries like the Philippines," he said. With biotechnology, he emphasized, "crops can be genetically modified to raise yield ceilings, improve resistance to pest and diseases, develop tolerance to drought, excessive temperatures, soil acidity and salinity and other abiotic stresses and to improve nutritional, processing, and keeping quality of farm produce." Conceding that there is no such thing as risk-free technology, Dr. Javier underscored the importance of setting in place the appropriate regulatory mechanism or legislation to govern biotechnology. "Hazard identification and risk assessment ought to be scientifically based and on a case-to-case basis (i.e., regulating the end-product rather than the process). Risk assessment should consider the characteristics of the organism being assessed, intended use of the organism and features of the recipient environment," he asserted. Regarding access to biotechnology, Dr. Javier reiterated that, "the solution is not to ban the use of the new technology by everybody, but by developing technologies tailor-made for the needs of the poor and by instituting measures so that the poor producers will likewise have ready, affordable access to the new technology." |
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