The Department of Agriculture (DA) has assured the public that it would continue tapping the assistance of experts and institutions to further improve its system for regulating the entry and consumption of genetically modified products in the country, as it denied being held captive by corporate giants in assessing applications for GM goods.

Director Joel Rudinas of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), said yesterday that independent external regulators continue to conduct parallel assessments of biotechnology crops on top of the thorough studies done by government agencies "in order to ensure optimum product safety before any such products are commercialized in the country."

Rudinas said in a report that the BPI also "strongly denies that it is held captive by corporations and technology developers in the assessment of applications."
The BPI is the DA-attached agency in-charge of regulating products containing genetically modified organisms (GMO).

"To improve its capability and access to information, BPI shall continue to seek the help of institutions and experts so the agency can perform its mandate better," Rudinas said.

He noted, for instance, that before a GM crop is field-tested, the developer is required to notify the public by publication of significant information about the field trial in two (2) newspapers of general circulation, then invite the public for their comments, which shall form part of the review process.

Full consultations and dialogues with affected stakeholders are also required, he said, before a final decision is made by the government on the proposed importation of GM products.

In an earlier report, the DA said that the "harmonized" system employed by the Philippines to regulate and control the entry and consumption of GMOs is actually "stricter" than the rules imposed by industrialized nations such as the United States and Canada and has even been acclaimed as a "paragon" among developing economies.

It said that DA Administrative Order (AO) No. 8, which spells out the government's main guidelines for the commercial approval of crops containing GMO, had gone through several revisions based on several rounds of public consultations across the country, employing the expertise of nationally and internationally recognized experts in several fields.

The Philippine system to regulate and control the entry and use of GM crops has been cited in several international forums as a paragon among developing countries for being "transparent, science-based and responsive," it added.

Internationally accepted standards on the safety assessment for GM crops, such as those prescribed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Health Organization (WHO), Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), are incorporated in all major provisions of AO 8.