Board Member Enrique Lacson yesterday said he will support amendments to the ordinance banning the entry of Genetically Modified Organisms into Negros Occidental if it will affect the food security of the province.

He noted that the ban has, so far, been selective, with action only taken against corn entering the province.

Insulin and other vaccines are also GMOs, Lacson also pointed out.

“We cannot have an ordinance that we cannot implement fully,” he said.

Lacson said he does not want to preempt the findings of the ad hoc committee created by Negros Occidental Gov. Isidro Zayco to look into the call of livestock and poultry raisers for the lifting of the ban, and the opposition from those opposed to GMO products.

“But if the findings are that the ordinance will greatly affect the food security of the province, I will support moves for its amendment,” he said.

“We do not want our livestock and poultry industry to collapse,” he said.

He said it would be better if GMO labels are placed on products to give the consumers a choice on whether to buy them or not.

The provincial government had earlier ordered the shipping out of intercepted GMO corn intended for feeds of livestock and poultry.

Lacson noted that corn in Negros Occidental is now P2 to P3 more expensive per kilo than in other provinces.

Meanwhile, Albert R.T. Lim Jr., president of the Negros Occidental Hog Raisers Association MPC Inc., in a position paper sent to Vice Gov. Emilio Yulo III, asked the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to immediately amend Provincial Ordinance No. 007, Series of 2007 banning GMO products from entering Negros Occidental.

The ordinance is anti-developmental and is contrary to the national thrust and programs for agricultural development and food security, he said.

“The provincial ordinance is anti-Negrense, anti-Negros consumer, anti-Negros farmer and anti-Negros industry. It violates the citizen’s basic right for an informed free choice as their option to use safe products of modern biotechnology are curtailed,” Lim said.

It is not founded on sound scientific facts, modern biotechnology is safe, he added.

Meanwhile, a civil society consultation on GMO will be held at the Capitol today.

Anti-GMO advocates insist that GMO food is harmful to health.