The rapidly growing adoption of biotechnology in government's avowed policy of creating and maintaining many parts of the world provides a bright spot for the "a safe and sustainable development."

The Arroyo government approved late last year domestic propagation of a popular high-yielding environment-friendly and pest-resistant biotechnology-processed corn variety. It was the final step towards the full commercialization of the biotech corn variety known as Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt corn.

The variety is now the first commercially available biotech food crop in Asia. The country's neighbors China, India and Indonesia are extensively growing biotech cotton.

President Arroyo earlier said that biotechnology ultimately works for the attainment of a safe and sustainable development, including its human, social and environmental aspects.

She expressed optimism that modern biotechnology "will provide farmers and fisher folk the opportunity to increase their overall productivity and income, enhance welfare of consumers, and promote efficiency, competitiveness and improved quality standards of local industries."

In the Philippines, field tests results showed that Bt corn could yield up to 40 percent more than traditional corn varieties during the wet season and up to 35 percent during the dry season.

This translates into additional earnings of approximately $100 to $200 per hectare for the farmer.

In addition to increase harvest, the use of Bt corn will also generate savings for local farmers due to the drastically reduced or eliminated use of toxic chemical insecticides.

This is because Bt corn is naturally resistant to the Asiatic corn borer or ACB, the most prevalent scourge of local corn crops known to destroy up to 100 percent of a season's cropping in many localities.

Wide support for biotech

The biotechnology policy received wide support from science from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, the Institute of Plant Breeding, the Natural Science Research Institute, the Crop Science Society of the Philippines, the Philippines Association for the Advancement of Science and Technology, the Biochemical Society of the Philippines and the Pest Management Council of the Philippines.

It was also backed by the Philippine Maize Federation, the largest organization of corn farmers in the country. Other active supporters of the pro-biotech policy are the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Business Council and the American Chamber of Commerce.

Several local Catholic church leaders also supported biotechnology, including outspoken Manila Auxiliary Bishop Teodoro Bacani, highly-influential Sorsogon prelate Bishop Jesus Varela and renowned Jesuit lawyer and theologian Fr. Joaquin Bernas.

The legitimate global scientific community seems to be of the consensus that food crops that have gone through biotechnology" are as safe as any conventionally bred crop and pose no additional threat to humans and the environment."

The prestigious US National Academy of Sciences said "agricultural biotechnology is one tool that holds great promise for alleviating hunger and poverty".

The US Food and Drug Administration, which has one of the most stringent food evaluation policies, also declared that biotech foods "present no inherent risk compared to conventionally bred plants. Other medical scientific institutions in the US support the US FDA finding: the American Dietetic Association and the Institute of Food Technologists.

In addition, regulatory agencies in the European Union, Canada and Japan have approved the consumption of various crops and foods developed by modern biotechnology for food and feed use.