58.7-M hectares now planted to GMO crops in 16 countries

ZAMBOANGA City – Genetically modified organisms (GMO) or transgenic crops are now planted in 58.7 million hectares in 16 countries in various parts of the world.

There has been a dramatic increase in the adoption of GM crops worldwide from 1996 to 2002, noted Dr. Reynaldo Ebora of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).

Dr. Ebora, former director of the UPLB National Institutes of Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology (BIOTECH), discussed "International Perspective of GMOs and GM Products" at a media forum on these crops held here recently.

The forum was attended by about 50 national and community media practitioners from the Zamboanga Peninsula and Basilan and from as far as Cagayan de Oro City in Northern Mindanao.

It was sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Region 9 (Western Mindanao) headed by Director Brenda Nazareth, National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) headed by Executive Director Paciente Cordero Jr., International Services for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), and Monsanto.

"The rapid increase in global area of transgenic crops indicates growing appreciation of the technology by farmers in both industrialized and developing countries," Dr. Ebora stressed.

A GMO is an organism, plant, or animal that contains a gene introduced or inserted from another unrelated plant or from a completely different species through a biotechnology process called genetic engineering (GE).

Example of a GMO is the now controversial Bt corn.

Bt stands for Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacterium that naturally occurs in soil. Through GE technique, a specific gene of Bt has been introduced into a corn variety. The Bt corn produces its natural protein or "defense mechanism" against the Asian corn borer, one of the most destructive pests attacking corn.

ISAAA statistics show that the GM crops in 2002 were grown by 5.5-6 million farmers in 16 countries, up from five million farmers and 13 countries in 2001.

The United States devoted 39 million ha (66 percent of the global total); followed by Argentina, 13.5 million ha (23 percent); Canada, 3.5 million ha (6 percent); and China, 2.1 million (4 percent).

South Africa grew GM crops in one million hectares.

The other countries, which allotted less than one million hectares each for GM crops, were Australia, India, Romania, Spain, Uruguay, Mexico, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Colombia, Honduras, and Germany.

India, the world’s largest cotton-growing country, commercialized Bt cotton for the first time in 2002.

Colombia (Bt cotton) and Honduras (Bt corn) grew pre-commercial GM crops for the first time, too.

Globally, the principal transgenic crops were GM soybean, which covered 36.5 million ha (62 percent of the global area); followed by GM corn, 12.4 million ha (21 percent); transgenic cotton, 6.8 million ha (12 percent); and GM canola, three million ha (five percent).

Since 1966 when GM crops were first grown, the global area planted has increased 35-fold: from 1.7 million ha to 58.7 million ha in 2002.

"This ranks as one of the highest adoption rates for crop technologies," ISAAA board chairman Dr. Clive James stated.

In the case of the Philippines, only four GMOs have so far been approved for field-testing, reported Dr. Reynaldo dela Cruz, also a UPLB professor.

Three of these trials involved Yieldgard corn of Monsanto and Pioneer Hi-Bred. The fourth trial involves transgenic rice being conducted by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

Filipino scientists have so far conducted 14 research and development (R&D) programs and projects on GMOs from laboratory scale to contained greenhouse and field.

Transgenic papaya resistant to the destructive papaya ring spot virus is the most likely to be field-tested in the near future, Dr. dela Cruz said.

During the forum, the print and broadcast journalists and scientists led by DOST Secretary Estrella F. Alabastro recognized the important role that the media practitioners play in fully informing the people about GMO.

The media practitioners admitted that, being a relatively new, unfamiliar and so "unattractive" field, biotechnology or genetic engineering, particularly its product (GMO), should be fully learned or understood by communicators.

For her part, Dr. Alabastro said: "We in the science community recognize the very important role media is playing in our society today. Thus, a controversial topic such as GMO, to which some people are opposed or are simply unaware of, should be discussed to enlighten all of us."