The Philippine biosafety standards and regulations have been cited in several international fora as a model in the region for its science-based, transparent and responsive system.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) Administrative Order No. 8 issued in 2002 embodies the rules and procedures adopted by the Philippines through the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), to protect end-users, consumers and the environment from harm.

This was stressed yesterday by Director Alice G. Ilaga, head of the DA's Biotechnology Program Office (BPO), as she assured the public that all GMOs approved for commercial release in the Philippines are safe.

"The professionals behind the Biosafety regulations are people of impeccable reputation from the academe and scientific community and will not tolerate the entry of materials which will ruin Philippine agriculture," Ilaga added.

The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), an attached agency of the DA, she added, remains as the sole government agency responsible for the final approval or rejection of GMO applications, whether they are safe for food, feed, processing or for propagation.

However, she said parallel safety assessments are performed to make sure that the GMO crop applied for commercial use are safe and pose no harmful effect to their intended users.

"Parallel safety assessments of every GM crop applied for commercial use are performed not only by several government regulators but by independent scientists and technical experts in the field of human, animal and environmental safety," she added.

"This parallel safety assessment by internal and external reviewers, albeit quite stringent according to international best practices, is being resorted to, to ensure optimum product safety before any GM crop is commercialized", she stressed.

Ilaga issued the statement, as she took the cudgel for the DA BPI which is constrained by a lower court from publicly discussing the manner by which the office approves GMO application because of an ongoing case.

Earlier, Dr. Saturnina Halos, head of the DA Biotechnology Advisory Team, doused cold water on the safety issue of GMOs that have been approved for commercial release in the Philippines, saying they are safe and do not pose harmful effect to both man and the environment.

She said the Philippines has the most stringent regulatory policies that GMO applications pass through a proverbial "needle eye" before being approved by the BPI.

Halos said ever anti-GMOs advocates are consulted, with some actively participating in the approval process.

She said all the 44 GMOs approved for commercial release by the BPI was carefully evaluated by experts, even though all of these have been approved by equally competent regulatory bodies of other countries.-Biolife News Service