SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ – A large group of farmers from different provinces stormed Wednesday the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), the country’s prime rice research agency here, with a protest action over the impending field trial on genetically engineered Golden Rrice.
The farmers who belong to several progressive groups from Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Pangasinan and Southern Tagalog expressed fear on the danger posed by Golden Rice, which, proponents say, is rich in beta carotene and Vitamin A, and good both to human health and socio-economic state of local farmers.
The Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (Masipag) said commercialization of Golden Rice, which field trials are expected to commence anytime this month at the PhilRice site, will pave the way to massive production of other genetically modified (GM) foods, including banana and potato.
Also, in the pipeline, according to Masipag, are purple antioxidant rice and GM zinc and iron-fortified rice.
“We are calling on our local leaders in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija and San Mateo, Isabela to reconsider the Golden Rice field trials until the farmers and the people have the full assurance of its safety,” said Cris Panerio, Masipag national coordinator.
Prior to converging in front of PhilRice, the farmers went to the city hall and urged local officials to deny PhilRice permit to conduct the field trials. They were asked by the local government to submit a formal position paper.
Joseph Canlas, secretary general of the Alyansa ng ma Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL), belittled the expected benefits of Golden Rice saying farmers abundantly produce foods that are rice in beta carotene and Vitamin A at present.
To underscore their point, the farmers shared for lunch naturally produced rice with meat, vegetables and fish at the entrance of PhilRice.
“Tingin ko itong mga may dalang kumpanya, sila ang may makitid na utak at apektado ng pagka-malnourished nila. Ang produkto naming mga magsasaka ay kumpleto,” Canlas said.
Canlas also led the tagging of permanent closure of PhilRice by putting up on its fence a tarpaulin saying the agency failed to serve the interest of Filipino farmers.
Reynante Ordoño, PhilRice’s project leader for Golden Rice, said making sure that Golden Rice is fit for human consumption is the “very essence of field trials.”
“Sa existing po na mga batas ngayon, ang lahat po ng pagkain ay tinitingnan na may kaakibat po na risko. So lahat naman po ay mayrong kaakibat na risko. Wala naman pong such thing as zero risk kaya since meron pa rin pong level of risk kaya kinakailangan pong tingnan at suriin na mabuti para ma-ensure na kapag lumabas ito sa market ay walang mako-cause na harm sa mga kakain,” Ordoño explained.
The production of Golden Rice, he explains, involved the taking of good traits of corn and putting it to rice to make the grains rich in beta carotene.
Ordoño said rice scientists will never hesitate backing out of Golden Rice production once they found it harmful, saying they were used to discarding research projects such as those that failed in expected yield volume.
The creation of Golden Rice, he said, has been very transparent. “Yung mga sina-submit naming data ay nagiging public domain so pwede pong i-scrutinize at nang lahat ay ma-satisfy pagdating sa development po nito,” he said.
The trials would be done on a 200 square meter lot inside a 1,000 square meter area at the PhilRice experiment center here. The place will be totally controlled that not even birds could pick a seed, he said.
The field trials will start once the local government and the Department of Agriculture issued separate permits.
