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Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Presidentiables warned v. endorsing Bt corn
By Bong S. Sarmiento
KORONADAL CITY -- Various groups in Mindanao opposed to the propagation and production of controversial Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn vowed to campaign against presidential candidates who will not include concerns related to the transgenic plant and other genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their respective platforms.
Bernie Mondragon, coordinator of the Davao City-based Kabataan Consortium Inc., said they will wage a nationwide campaign among youth voters discouraging them from voting presidential contenders who will take the GMO issue, particularly Bt corn, for granted.
"Bt corn poses threats to life and therefore must be opposed. Our stand will translate into votes in the coming election. We will strongly campaign against the presidentiables who are for GMOs, particularly Bt corn," he said in a telephone interview Monday.
According to Mondragon, they were alarmed by the recent findings of Norwegian scientist Terje Traavik, who claimed that traces of Bt toxin were found on the blood samples of residents living near a Bt corn field in Sitio Kalyong, Barangay Landan in Polomolok, South Cotabato.
In July last year, B'laan residents there complained of various symptoms allegedly caused by the Bt cornfield.
Their blood samples were tested by Traavik in Norway two months later.
But Traavik, at a recent press briefing in General Santos, clarified the "traces of Bt toxin in the blood samples might not be the result of their exposure to the Bt corn site," stressing that more scientific studies should be done for a conclusive finding.
Mondragon said his group has tied up with Kalitawhan Working Group on Biodiversity, Metsa Foundation and Masipag-Mindanao, to campaign against presidential candidates who are for the advancement of GMO crops in the country.
The campaign would be waged nationwide by the end of this month, Mondragon said.
His group alone, Kabataan Consortium Inc., is composed of 9 non-government organizations (NGOs) that have programs on the rights of children, which according to Mondragon, can be relied upon in carrying out the campaign against the presidentiables who are deemed pro-GMOs.
In disclosing the campaign, Mondragon said they were worried by the fact that 17 of those who positively tested for traces of Bt toxin were children aged five months to 20 years old.
Testimonies of the victims documented by local Catholic Church showed that they suffered nausea, severe stomach pain, cough, fever and general weakness of the body during the flowering stage of the Bt corn planted in their village last year.
In the May 10 polls, President Arroyo is seeking a full-term. Her opponents include movie actor Fernando Poe Jr, former national police chief Panfilo Lacson, former education secretary Raul Roco, evangelist Eddie Villanueva and businessman Eddie Gil.
Mondragon, however, failed to mention who among the presidentiables would be the subject or subjects of the campaign. But he said their campaign would be launched before the end of March.
As this developed, the coalition, in a press statement, reiterated the call for the government to stop the commercialization of Bt corn, to ban the entry of imported products containing GMOs, and to freeze all field trials of other genetically modified crops or organisms.
The Arroyo administration, through the agriculture department headed by Luis Lorenzo Jr., approved the commercialization of Monsanto's Bt corn variety in the country in December 2002.
Lorenzo's predecessor, Leonardo Montemayor, reportedly said early last year that the approval of Monsanto's license for the commercialization of its Bt corn was "hastily given".
Mondragon chided the decision of the Arroyo administration to commercialize Bt corn, saying, "It's ugly head has started to surface with the findings of Traavik."
"We warned the government of such scenario. We had presented our views on this matter based on the findings of independent scientists and based on the rejection of GMO products in the European Union," he said.
"Whether the Philippine government played it safe, its direct accountability on this issue (Bt corn) could not be detached," he added.
(March 10, 2004 issue)
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