KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato-Catholic church leaders in this city and in nearby provinces plan to make public the list of food products that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The planned move would initially include putting-up of streamers listing the products and installing them in various parishes under the Diocese of Marbel which covers the provinces of South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos City.

Gloria Sabit, advocacy officer of the Director of Marbel's Justice and Peace Desk, said the move is part of the church's intensified campaign against GMO products, particularly the controversial Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt) corn.

"This is to inform the public of the presence of the dangerous GMOs in our markets now through some processed goods," she said.

Sabit said Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Guiterrez has given them the go-signal to display the anti-GMO streamers in front to the St. Anthony Parish Cathedral in this city.

She said the bishop called for a boycott on products that contain GMOs since they are not yet proven to be safe for human consumption.

Dr. Chito Medina, an anti-GMO scientist from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB), earlier revealed a list of products with GMOs and urged residents not to patronize them.

He said at least 47 products containing GMOs have been flooding the local markets, particularly those containing genetically-altered corn and soya beans from the United States.

The products include milk, noodles and hotdogs.

Medina said Bt corn and other genetically altered crops could pose a danger to human health and the environment because these crops were not yet scientifically proven to be safe for consumption.

The scientist urged the public to refrain from buying processed goods containing GMO because of their purported ill effects to the human health.

Sabit said the boycott campaign was launched because the national government failed to listen to calls for a moratorium on Bt corn which was highlighted by the hunger strike of several anti-GMO advocates in May in Metro Manila.

Monsanto's Bt corn variety was the first biotech crop to be approved for commercial planting in the Philippines, and is one of the first biotech food crops to be approved for planting in Asia.

In a statement days after the approval in December 2002, company officials said several other Asian countries including Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Australia have reviewed the safety of a number of biotech crops and granted import approvals.

Monsanto officials said the approval by the agriculture department was based in part on local field trial results that demonstrated significant increases in yield and a reduced need for insecticides application, which will potentially increase farmers' incomes.