KORONADAL CITY - Some 1,000 militant activists staged a protest rally on Thursday just outside Monsanto Co.’s plant in nearby General Santos City and condemned the company’s controversial Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn for its alleged hazardous effects to humans and the environment. 


Eliezer Billanes, chairman of the South Cotabato Movement Against Genetically Modified Organisms, said members of militant organizations from as far as North Cotabato and Davao del Sur joined the indignation rally. 


A mock trial was held wherein Monsanto was adjudged “guilty” for allegedly causing illnesses to humans and poisoning the environment, Billanes added. 


“Monsanto should stop the commercial distribution of Bt corn. We are convinced that Bt corn has ill effects to humans and the environment,” Billanes said in a telephone interview. 


Among those who joined the protest action were Bayan Muna, Kilusan ng Magbubukid sa Pilipinas, Anak Pawis, Gabriela, Suara Bangsamoro and representatives from the local Catholic Church. The Magsasaka at Siyentipiko Para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura spearheaded the protest action. 


In December 2002, the Philippine government, through the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry, granted Monsanto’s application for the commercialization of the controversial Bt corn. 


As a result of the approval, protest actions were launched by anti-Bt corn advocates, highlighted by last year’s hunger strike headed by Roberto Versola, a critic of the transgenic crop, in front of the DA main office in Metro Manila. 


Before the commercial approval was granted to Monsanto, disgusted militant farmers on August 29, 2001, stormed and uprooted Bt corn plants at the company’s field test site in barangay Maltana in Tampakan, South Cotabato. The crop was about to be harvested at that time. 


Meanwhile, Monsanto officials have repeatedly given assurance that Bt corn has no ill effects to human health and the environment. 


Following the commercial approval by the Philippine government in December 2002, Monsanto officials issued a statement assuring the safety of the transgenic crop. 


“This approval in the Philippines demonstrates that both farmers and government regulators recognize the safety and benefits of plant biotechnology, which is why use of these technologies continues to expand throughout the world,” said Robb Fraley, Ph.D., chief technology officer of Monsanto. 


“This acceptance is driven by the overwhelming benefits of biotechnology, such as significant reduction in pesticide use,” he added. 


According to Monsanto, the YieldGard 818 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. 


Company officials said that several other Asian countries including Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Australia have reviewed the safety of a number of biotech crops and granted import approvals. 


They alleged that the commercial 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 insecticide applications, which will potentially increase the farmers’ incomes. 


Early this year, however, a Norwegian scientist, Terje Traavik, scientific director of the Norwegian Institute of Gene Ecology, claimed that Bt toxic traces were found on the blood samples of residents living near a Bt corn field in Polomolok, South Cotabato. 


Traavik, however, stressed that it is difficult to conclude whether the traces of Bt toxin found on the blood samples were a result of the individual’s exposure to the Bt cornfield in sitio Kalyong, barangay Landan in Polomolok town. 


Local Monsanto officials had brushed aside the findings of Traavik and recommended an independent study about the matter. 

“We really don’t know how they were able to determine such findings. I think it’s a biased result considering that they came from those opposing our product,” said Francisco Camacho, Monsanto’s technology development executive based in General Santos City. 


He said the credibility of findings should be substantiated especially the process by which the blood samples were taken. “We have to make sure that the samples were taken properly and that the process of the analysis was based on accepted scientific standards,” he said. 


Camacho also said the alleged infection of Landan residents from the Bt corn plants was the only report they received out of the hundreds of sites planted with Bt corn in this city and nearby South Cotabato.