While there is a growing worldwide acceptance to the use of biotechnology in agriculture and other sectors of the economy, the country may eventually see itself as lagging behind Southeast Asian neighbors, which are increasingly prioritizing research and development on the new technology.

In a media forum yesterday, Dr. Emil Q. Javier, a member of the National Academy of Science and Technology, said contrary to the lobby of environmental groups against the negative effects of biotechnology, the "real risk is not understanding and using biotechnology for the national good."

According to a primer released by the Department of Agriculture, Philippine Council for Agriculture, forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development, Biotechnology Coalition of the Philippines, Inc., and Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture , "biotechnology is any technique that uses a living organism (e.g. plants, animals, microorganisms) or parts of it to improve another living organism for a specific purpose."

The primer noted that biotechnology has long been used to, for instance, produce cheese, soy sauce, bread, and beer, as well as lifesaving antibiotics and vaccines for rabies and hepatitis B.

In the country, the use of biotechnology is closely linked with genetically modified organism that is now commercially used in the propagation of Bt corn, which uses bacillus thuringiensis to make the produce resistant to the corn borer.

A genetically modified (GM) crop, or transgenic crop, according to the primer, contains a gene that has been artificially inserted, instead of the plant acquiring it through cross pollination. The inserted gene, called transgene, may come from another unrelated plant, or from a completely different species.

In the case of Bt corn, the website of the University of Kentucky Entomology said the donor organism is a naturally occurring soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, and the gene of interest produces a protein that kills Lepidoptera larvae, in particular, the European corn borer.

Growers use Bt corn as an alternative to spraying insecticides for control of the European and southwestern corn borer.

Mr. Javier said ignoring the advent of biotechnology in agriculture will leave farmers with no choice but to stick with the old method of using imported insecticide - which means continuing high production cost - to kill plant viruses, which, actually, is also damaging the environment as it also kills the useful insects, and contaminates the soil and the plant itself.

The government has so far approved the commercial propagation of Bt corn, although the area planted to the produce is only 30,000 hectares, which are mainly in Isabela and some parts of Mindanao.

Mr. Javier said this is still a far cry to at least matching imports of half a million metric tons of corn from the United States, mainly from Iowa, which, in all likelihood, is Bt corn; about 40% of corn and 80% of soybean from the US is genetically modified.

The market for Bt corn is expected to go higher as China is seen to import more to support the poultry and livestock industry that is supplying an increasing domestic consumption.

But it seems like the campaign of environmentalist groups, spearheaded by Greenpeace, continues to be as effective given the negative public perception of genetically modified organisms as causing sickness and death, and damaging to the environment.

To this, Dr. Nina Barzaga, director of the Institute of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, National Institute of Health, University of the Philippines-Manila, said there is still no empirical data which show a negative effect of GM food.

In the same forum, she said humans have no receptors that can take in the virus, say Bt, which makes the corn resistant to the borer, all GM products pass through strict scrutiny of the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines (NCBP) in terms of allergic reactions, and that based on the body's antibiotic resistance, the gene inserted in the plant is of no value.

On the issue of carcinogenesis, she said cancer takes a long gestation process and its cause is multifaceted, such that it could not conclusively said that the intake of GM food will lead to acquiring cancer.

Mr. Javier said biotechnology has since revived the solo papaya sector of Hawaii, USA, which was brought down by the ringspot virus. The Institute of Plant Breeding of UP-Los Banos (Laguna) is about to field test the GM papaya, including the delayed ripening process, from the greenhouse.

Mr. Javier said they have introduced the technology to the papaya planters in Cavite, who were receptive to the idea, and that scientists are looking at a possible commercial application in the next two years.

He said the biotechnology campaign is developing the so-called Pinoy GMOs, or applying the technology to indigenous produce such as the abaca, which is reeling from the infestation of the mosaic bunchy top virus.

Mr. Javier said discovering virus resistance of such local crops will not be a concern of scientists from the US, "that is why we should concentrate on local technological development rather than be left importing the technology."

He said in terms of biosafety, there is strict compliance, with the NCBP still adopting the 1983 US rules on biosafety, which have since been relaxed by the US government.

To this, the NCBP has said that it is better to err on the safe side than to relax the rules on a new technology.

Mr. Javier said proof of the biotechnology bandwagon is the growing interest among European governments to fund research and development on GMOs despite their strict rules on the entry of GM-based imports from the US - in effect, a trade barrier.

But, he said, it just so happened that the US has developed the technology early on and has been profiting from exports of GM products, which prompted a Spanish friend to say, "When we're ready [to compete], we will relax our rules."

To this, Mr. Javier said, "My only concern is that we are not doing enough to use biotechnology for national purposes. Already, we are beyond Thailand and Indonesia on agricultural and medical biotechnology."