Government has finally approved the cultivation of Syngenta’s corn trait GA21 after a period of risks assessment, paving the way for the development of corn varieties with enhanced resistance to herbicides. Syngenta stressed the assessments undertaken by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and other agencies concerned with biosafety and environmental risks showed GA21 posed no harm to human health and the ecology.

THE Philippines has started the actual trial of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton from India and is eyeing the commercial propagation of the produce in 2012, according to Department of Agriculture (DA) officials. Agriculture Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Segfredo Serrano disclosed that the Cotton Development Administration (CDA) has started planting transgenic-hybrid cotton in one of its screen houses at the agency’s cotton farm located in Batac City, Ilocos Norte recently.

The fourth division of the appellate court reversed the temporary restraining order issued by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) prohibiting the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) from allowing Bayer Crop Science Inc. to import the rice variety for food, feeds and processing. [...] The CA ruled that the trial court erred in ruling that LLRice62 is dangerous to health and the environment. The court said such findings would have to be verified by the proper agencies.

Genetically modified (GM) crops are not the only answer to Asia’s looming food deficit, but multinational crop technology company Syngenta argues that they must be part of the mix. Syngenta made the case for GM technology to journalists in Bangkok two weeks ago, as part of a broader effort to open Asian government doors that have so far remained closed to genetically modified food crops.

Greenpeace on Friday called on the International Rice Research Institute to abandon its genetic engineering program as the environmental activist group offers marker assisted breeding as a safe alternative to bioengineering. [...] ”Genetic-engineering (GE) has been widely publicized in recent years by agro-chemical companies as the ’future’ of agriculture. But MAS has already gone through many silent successes that have in fact overtaken the promises of GE.”

The gentle mountain slopes in this fascinatingly beautiful place at once catch the attention not merely for their idyllic setting and extremely hospitable people that reside in their lush green shadows but also for a revolutionary trend in the agriculture they now practice along these inclines. As one winds through the serene terrains of Cagayan valley in northern Philippines, none can escape the hypnotising effect of the slopes covered with rows of standing corn crops.

The dream of two Negros provinces to be an organic island is yet to be realized in the absence of an ordinance banning the use and propagation of Genetically Modified Organisms in Negros Oriental, even as Negros Occidental has already passed one. It was then Negros Oriental governor George Arnaiz and the late Gov. Joseph Marañon of Negros Occidental who entered into a memorandum of agreement in 2005 aimed at transforming the two provinces into an organic island.

Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra yesterday expressed his strong support to the hunger strike initiated by Green Alert members opposing amendments to the controversial genetically-modified organism ordinance of Negros Occidental. ”The Diocese of Bacolod urges the provincial officials to desist from amending the ordinance under whatever pretenses,” Navarra said in a statement of support. He added, ”Public officials must yield to the greater good and not to narrow commercial interests.”

Members of environmental group Green Alert Negros on Tuesday started a hunger strike to convince the provincial government of Negros Occidental to keep the ban on products with genetically-modified organisms in the province. Racquel de los Santos of the Green Alert Negros said six of their members went on hunger strike, which, she said, will end only after the provincial government has decided not to lift the ban. De los Santos said they will be camping in front of the provincial capitol.

A GROUP of local corn farmers have asked biotechnology giant Monsanto Co. to develop and distribute a genetically-modified (GM) soybean variety as an alternative crop. ”We are asking Monsanto to help us develop a tropical variety soybean that is round-up ready [weed-tolerant],” Roderico R. Bioco, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Maize Federation, Inc. (Philmaize), told reporters late Monday.