Los Baños, Laguna - The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) gathered together researchers, scientists and biosafety regulators to a workshop on food biosafety and risk communication for some genetically modified (GM) crops last 10-11 May.

The workshop featured the sharing of various experiences on biosafety regulations, food and safety concerns, and risk communication in Asia.

Philippine experiences presented at the workshop were the success of Bt corn and Bt eggplant in terms of insect resistance; and the regulatory actions applied on papaya ring spot virus (PRSV)-resistant papaya and Bt eggplant.

Experts stressed that PRSV-resistant papaya and Bt Eggplant are safe for human consumption. However, not all consumers know that.

Hence, workshop participants agreed on the importance of risk communication to support the commercialization of safe and quality food products from GM crops.