ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Groups opposing the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are calling for the compulsory labeling of products containing GMOs as a guide to consumers.

Lawyer Lilibeth Aruelo of The Third World Network Forum, an international network on environmental and developmental issue, said the manufacturers of products with GMOs should be required to indicate its contents in the product label.

“Consumers in the Philippines do not know if the products they are buying contain GMOs and they should be provided with this information so they can choose,” Aruelo said in a forum on genetic engineering held in Iloilo City Wednesday.

A GMO is a plant, animal, or microorganism with its genetic code changed through biotechnology to give it characteristics that it does not have.

GMOs have been used in agriculture, including the production of pest resistant and high-yielding crops and in medicines.

While its proponents see GMO production as a leap in technology and production, various sectors oppose it because of its impact on environment and health.

Aruelo called on legislators to amend the Consumers Act (Republic Act 7394) so it would include the mandatory labeling of products containing GMOs.

She said measures like these were necessary in the absence of a law in the country regulating the production and the use of GMOs.

The only regulation is contained in Department of Agriculture Order 8 issued in 2002, which regulates the importation of GMO products.

Camilo Beltran, a Mexican scientist and research associate at the New Zealand-based Center for Integrated Research in Biosafety, said at the forum that there was an urgent need to raise public awareness on the impact of GMOs on the environment, health, agriculture, and food security.

Beltran said the Philippines was one of 12 countries that have allowed entry of GMO products, including corn, potato, canola, sugar beet, soybean, cotton, and alfalfa.