A total of 178 scientists attesting to the safety of biotechnology-derived crops including Bt corn, recently assured President Arroyo through a declaration that plants and food derived from biotechnology are safe both to humans and the environment even as they warned her against an "organized scare campaign" by anti-biotechnology groups. 

In a letter to the President, Dr. C.S Prakash of the United States-based Tuskegee Institute said "there is overwhelming scientific evidence that this (biotechnology) is a safe and useful approach in improving agricultural production and environmental sustainability, and contributes significantly to better health." 

This is further strengthened in an earlier broader petition vouching for the safety of bioengineered crops that have been endorsed by over 3,500 scientists from across 60 countries including 20 Nobel laureates. 

Food and plant products processed through biotechnology, such as Bt corn, have built in resistance to specific pests such as the deadly Asiatic corn borer. They therefore require little or no application of toxic chemical insecticides. 

The international scientists wrote the President in the wake of recent protest actions in the country concerning the commercialization of Bt corn. Several nongovernmental organizations backed byGreenpeace had demanded that the government stop farmers from planting the high-yielding chemical-free variety. 

Among the Nobel winners who assured the safety of biotech products are Norman Borlaug (Nobel Peace Prize, 1970), Oscar Arias Sanchez (Nobel Peace Prize,1987), Paul Boyer (Nobel Prize in chemistry, 1997), Eric Wieschaus (Physiology, 1995), Christian de Duve(Medicine, 1974), George Olah (Chemistry, 1994) and Donald A. Glaser (Physics, 1960). 

The scientists pointed out that "the responsible genetic modification of plants is neither new nor dangerous." They said this was being done before through traditional methods such as cell culture. Biotechnology, however, offers greater flexibility and precision in the modification of crop plants, they said. 

Biotechnology can also address environmental degradation, hunger, and poverty in the developing world through improved agricultural productivity and greater nutritional security, they added. 

"We have concluded that commercial biotechnology-derived crops and foodstuffs are as safe as conventional crops and foodstuffs, and deliver important economic and environmental benefits to farmers and society at large," they told the President. 

The assurance made by the international scientific community had earlier been expressed by local researchers led by professors from the University of the Philippines at Los Banos (UPLB) and various science organizations. 

Among these are the Women Association of Scientists in the Philippines, the Women Inventors Association of the Philippines, the Philippine Association for the Advancement of Science and Technology, the Crop Science Society of the Philippines, the Biochemical Society of the Philippines, the Women in Science and Technology Development Foundation, Inc., and the Pest Management Council of the Philippines. 

Leading Filipino scientists based in the University of the Philippines also joined the fight against the black propaganda efforts against biotechnology. Among them are Professors Nelle Lopez of the UP Diliman Institute of Biology, Emerica Cao of the UP Diliman Natural Science Research Institute, Nina Barzaga of the UP Manila Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Mario Festin of the UP Manila National Institute of Health, Dr.  Violeta Villegas of the UP Los Banos Institute of Plant Breeding and Dr. Benigno Peczon of the Biotechnology Coalition of the Philippines.