QC, July 11 (PIA) –- Former UP President Emil Q. Javier is telling the public not to believe detractors who advocate that crops produced through biotechnology interventions are harmful to human health.

Javier, who is now president of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), reasoned that “in the last 15 years, no instance proved that a person was poisoned by Bbotechnology crops.”

He said the country needs biotech crops or products enhanced through Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) otherwise, “we will lose competitiveness.”

Agriculture Undersecretary Joel Rudinas, for his part, supported Javier, saying, “We need options in farming to yield better produce.” He also told people not to worry about GMO as rules in the implementation of biotechnology crops are strictly adhered to before it is made available to the farmers for mass replication.

Javier explained that once a GMO product is developed, it is passed through the National Committee on Bio-Safety of the Philippines (NCBP) for evaluation and identification of potential hazards involved in the genetic engineering experiment. After it receives approval from the Committee, the GMO crop is submitted to the Bureau of Plant Industries (BPI) for further review and approval/ disapproval. Javier relayed that the ultimate rule in the intervention of science for crop enhancement is “Safe and Responsible use of Biotechnology.”

“We are taking this seriously. We are responsibly looking at every GMO one at a time,” he said.

Rudinas relayed that what the Agriculture department and the Scientists’ community are doing is providing farmers options to improve their crops. “If they want to do organic farming, they are free to do so. If they decide to use GMO crops, then so be it,” he explained.

The first GMO to be approved by the BPI in the Philippines in December 2002 is the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn. Bt corn utilizes its bacillus thuringiensis bacteria to resist the Asiatic corn borer pest. Since 2002, BPI has already approved 44 GMO products for commercial use in the country.

Rudinas and Javier were among the resource persons of the Communication and News Exchange (CNEX) at the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) today. Others present were National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Administrator Antonio S. Nangel, and Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Executive Director Luningning Samarita-Domingo.

Meanwhile, the NAST is inviting the public to its 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting on July 13-14 at the Manila Hotel, themed “Meeting the Challenges of Agricultural Productivity, Competitiveness, and Sustainability. The annual activity serves as the platform for new findings, research, and information.

NSAT is the government’s highest recognition and advisory body that addresses issues and concerns related to science and technology (S&T) through series of round table discussions, science legislative for a, focus group discussions, speakers bureau, conferences, and symposia.