Davao stops planting of modified eggplants

THE Davao City government on Friday stopped the test planting of genetically engineered eggplants at the University of the Philippines’ Mindanao Campus in Bago Oshiro on fears they posed risks to health.

“Davao City has done the right thing issuing the cease-and-desist order on this risky experiment, especially since Bt Talong [eggplant] proponents have openly disregarded the city resolution against the [genetically modified organism] field trials,” said Daniel Ocampo of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

“No [modified] crop has ever been proven safe to the environment and human health, and they cannot be recalled once they are released into the environment.”

Ocampo said the field trials should never have been conducted given the opposition to it by local governments and the public, and the scientific evidence of the risks of field testing presented in September.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte ordered UP Mindanao’s Chancellor to stop the field testing of the genetically modified eggplants in a letter she sent on Dec. 13. She cited the lack of public consultation on the experiment before it was started, which was an Agriculture Department requirement on regulated articles.

Duterte also ordered the school to remove all the eggplant specimens from the school.

Earlier, Davao City and two villages near the campus, Mintal and Bago Oshiro, passed resolutions against the conduct of field trials in the area.

Greenpeace criticized the Agriculture Department for failing to stop the field trials, saying all controlled testing outside laboratories posed risks to human health. –Ray T. Salita, Manila Standard Today