While Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh doesn’t trust the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee’s green flag to Bt brinjal, Philippines has relied on the very same results to fast-track its own process to grant approval to the crop. [...] ”Our decision to use the Indian dossier is a testament to the quality of your biosafety framework and to the work of your Genetic Engineering Approval Committee,” [Science and Technology Secretary Estrella Alabastro] said.

Greenpeace called on the Philippine government to promote and invest in ecological farming practices as a solution to the challenges facing the country’s agriculture sector. The call was made at the launch of a new report, ”Counting the Costs of Genetic Engineering”, which documents the agronomic and economic failures of genetically engineered (GE) crops from around the world.

Known as the C4 Rice Project, the research is being carried out at the IRRI headquarters in Los Banos with the help of an initial US$11 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. [...] The goal is to genetically modify rice into a C4 photosynthesis plant, such as maize, so it can absorb sunlight faster, use less water and require less fertiliser. [...] ”It’s not unusual in the plant kingdom for a plant to move from C3 to C4. What we are trying to do is speed up evolution.”

Golden Rice will be available to farmers and consumers only after it has been authorized by the agriculture, environment, health, and food safety agencies of their countries. Public health officials, nongovernment organizations, grain traders, and private industry will be consulted in each country before Golden Rice is introduced. Golden Rice may be approved in the Philippines and Bangladesh as early as 2012, and introduced to the public in those countries soon after. Other countries developing Golden Rice in local varieties are India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Green Alert Negros said 2009 is ”a year of shame and contractions” as to the decisions of the national and the Negros Occidental government in response to the environmental issues [...] GAN said it was able to raise strong cases against the government on its decisions and endorsement on some of critical environmental issues in Negros, such as [...] the lifting of the GMO ban of the Organic Island program of the province.

Under the strict supervision of the Biosafety Committee of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Bureau of Plant Industry- Quarantine Service, together with CODA Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC), six commercial transgenic cotton varieties imported from Nath Biogene (India) Ltd. were planted side by side with three locally-developed commercial non-Bt cotton varieties.

AN ”informed opinion” among biotechnology stakeholders is the key element in an effective advocacy and promotion of the potentials of animal biotechnology. [...] Experts from the forum said animal biotechnology does not necessarily mean genetically modified organisms (GMO), to which people always feel skeptical and carry negative connotations when they hear the term.

The futuristic C4 rice which is seen to give rise to the second ”green revolution” that will save the globe’s poor community from hunger may solely be developed through genetic engineering. The C4 rice may take a long while before a commercial release, but it is targeted to give a yield of 50 percent higher than check varieties (benchmark for high yield).

The Bureau of Plant Industry opened on Tuesday a P3.1-million facility that will test the entry of genetically modified organisms and secure food safety and ensure that local crops are not contaminated by illegal imports. The testing facility for plant pathogen and GMO detection will enable the Philippines to keep up with its neighboring countries in GMO detection capability even as liberalized trade has been opening up the local market to more potential contaminants.

The Philippines may be able to put in the market by 2011-2012 the genetically modified delayed ripening papaya that doubles with a ring spot virus-resistant trait even as private firms like East West Seed Co. have been inquiring on the commercial readiness of the tropical fruit. The delayed ripening and RSV-resistant papaya just needs to undergo at least one field trial which will take one season or one year’s planting before it is finally put into the market.