Soybeans, one of the country's major imports, can now come in genetically modified form, after the Department of Agriculture approved the application for field trial submitted by multinational agro-chemical company Monsanto.

After the row with environmental groups in the entry of BT (bacillus thuringiensis) corn early this year, the Biotechnology Core Team under the Bureau of Plant Industry gave a green light to the planting of GM soybean to be used as feed, food and for processing.

The BCT approved the important of Round-up-Ready Soybean 40-3-2 of Monsanto and the BT corn variety made by Syngenta following a 60-day study to determine whether these products are safe to human and animal health.

Monsanto's Round-up-Ready soybeans is resistant to the weed round-up while the Bt-11 or Bt corn is resistant to the Asiatic corn borer.

BPI earlier gave Monsanto licence to propagate commercially BT corn crops that have been tested in the 10 field sites all over the country.

There are still about 15 more GMO applications field since the DA began imposing on July 1 a stricter policy that requires importers to declare if raw materials so be shipped contains genetically modified organisms.

The policy requiring declaration of shipment containing GMOs is part if the implementing rules and regulations of Administrative Order (AO) No. 8 which allows for the propagation, importation, processing of GMOs in the Philippines.

Other applications lodged at the BPI include four other Bt corn varieties of Monsanto; Bt corn varieties developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred Philippines Inc. and Buyer Crops Science; three Bt cotton varieties from Monsanto; one sugar beet, three potatoes, and one canola, all from Monsanto.

A source from the BCT said the DA may not exactly follow the 60-day period for processing the application of the 15 other GMOs as the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP), which ensures safety of these products, have asked for additional information on the products.

"The clock stops when the STRP asks for an additional requirement," the official said.

Since AO 8 was issued by DA, only one GMO has so far been approved for local propagation, the Bt corn Mon 810 variety of Monsanto.

Government requires greenhouse testing, field testing, and multi-locational field testing for the propagation of GMOs to ensure safety to human and the environment.

Before the local propagation of GMOs, testing of safety of the products as food, feed and to the environment goes through a comprehensive evaluation by the Scientific and Technical Review Panel, Bureau of Animal Industry, Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries product Standards, and Bureau of Food and Drugs.

But GreenPeace campaigner Beau Baconguis said that unlike traditionally bred crops, the altered genetic makeup of GMOs are feared to have possible long-time-side effects to human health, although no concrete scientific proof have been offered yet to support this claim.

Baconguis also called for vigilance in monitoring the planting process as she challenged government to be more transparent in announcing the results of the field experiments.

"Susundan natin and planting ng BT soybean, kase sa BT corn hindi sinunod ng gobyerno and sarili nilang protocol. They should stop the secrecy and disclose the areas where these gene-altered crops are planted.

It's only proper to conduct genuine publica consultations, even for field trials," she said.